WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University men's basketball team will look to extend the East Region's longest current winning streak to five when it hosts Franklin Pierce University Sunday afternoon at the Dana Center.  Game time is set for 2 pm and fans who can't make it can watch on NE10 NOW.

Coach Jay Lawson's Falcons are off to a 6-1 start, including 4-0 at home and 3-1 in conference action. The Northeast-10's highest scoring team has averaged 93.3 points during the streak and 98.5 in front of the home fans.

They'll be taking on a Franklin Pierce team that is 4-3 overall and 1-2 NE10 in David Chadbourne's 23^rd season at the helm. The conference's third highest scoring team (85.9 per game) has won its last two contests, both at home where the Ravens are 3-0.

Both clubs are coming off wins over Southern New Hampshire, Bentley 75-68 Tuesday after a closing 28-12 run over the final 11:20 and FPU in overtime, 87-83, last Saturday.

While graduate guard Colton Lawrence (Myerstown, Pa./ELCO HS), a 20 point-per-game scorer, has missed the last four games, others have picked up the slack in his absence. Notably, that includes graduate guard Jordan Mello-Klein (Sharon/Thayer Academy) and senior guard Mason Webb (Oklahoma City, Okla./ Bishop McGuinness HS) with the duo combining to average 39.5 points, 14.5 rebounds and 10.3 assists during the streak while shooting over 50 percent, both overall and from deep.

For the season, Mello-Klein produces 16.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.8 steals a game, a combination that very few players nationally can match. He's had 20+ points in three of the last four contests and has at least seven rebounds in every game this season.

Webb, next on the scoring list at 15.1 for the season and 19.0 during the streak, owns shooting marks of .493 overall, .436 from three and .882 at the line.

Mello-Klein and Webb start alongside graduate forward Pete Blust (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale HS), senior guard Brian Wright-Kinsey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooks School) and freshman guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS).  Laput averages 13.4 points with a .564 shooting percentage, Wright-Kinsey owns a 9.8 average and Blust has blocked 13 shots, third most in the conference.

 In the NCAA Division II stats, Bentley ranks third in blocks, fourth in three-point accuracy, seventh in three-pointers and tenth in rebound margin.

The Bentley defense will be tested on Sunday as Franklin Pierce features the number three scorer in Division II, junior guard Isaiah Moore. He's averaging 25.3 points with a .581 field goal percentage, and has put up at least 30 three times with a high of 35 against Saint Anselm. His scoring is nearly double from what he put up as a sophomore in 2019-20 (13.0).

Other offensive weapons for the Ravens are junior forward Maxwell Zegarowski and freshman guard Mohamen Traore. Zegarowski will come into Sunday at 14.1 and Traore is right behind at 13. Both average over two three-pointers a game.

There's been no shortage in offense in the Bentley-Franklin Pierce matchup over the years with the winning team scoring in the 90s in eight of the last 11 meetings. They split in the pre-pandemic season, with FPU winning in Rindge, N.H., 94-90, and Bentley bouncing back at home, 105-72. During those 11 games, the Falcons have prevailed seven times.

Coming up for the Falcons are road games at Post University Dec. 18 and at American International two days later.