Mello-Klein, Lawrence Earn All-Northeast-10 Honors; Laput Tabbed for All-Rookie Team
WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley University men's basketball standouts Jordan Mello-Klein (Sharon/Thayer Academy) and Colton Lawrence (Myerstown, Pa./ELCO HS), both graduate guards, have been selected for All-Northeast-10 Conference honors, with Mello-Klein voted by the conference coaches to the first team and Lawrence chosen for the second team.
In addition, sophomore guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS) received All-Rookie Team honors.
Mello-Klein has had a standout season for Bentley, filling the stat sheet nightly with averages of 14.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.1 steals and 37.7 minutes. He's number three in the conference in rebounds, assists and steals as well as the NE10's best in assist-turnover ratio. Five times this season he's recorded a double-double. Remarkably, despite being just six-foot-one, he's tenth nationally in Division II in defensive rebounds per game.
A four-year starter, Mello owns career totals of 1,130 points, 630 rebounds, 466 assists and 145 steals in 106 games. He's sixth in program history in career defensive rebounds with the five in front of him averaging six-foot-eight.
Lawrence, who hadn't played in a game in nearly 1,000 days before this season started, leads the Falcons in scoring, averaging 17.3 points as well as 3.8 rebounds. His scoring average ranks sixth in the conference and he leads the NE10 in three-point accuracy (.464). In addition, he's fifth in the conference in three-pointers per game (2.6) and tenth in field goal percentage (.518).
Lawrence, in 67 career games, has 785 points and 307 rebounds. He's had a pair of 30-point games this season, 34 at Saint Anselm Nov. 17 and 32 against Southern New Hampshire Feb. 12.
Laput, who saw his freshman year cancelled by the pandemic, is second on the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.0 points and 6.6 rebounds. He's the only player in the conference shooting at least .500 overall, .400 from three and .800 free throws with his numbers entering the conference championships .508, .431 and .860. His season has included five 20-point games and four double-doubles, with highs of 25 points and 15 rebounds.
Bentley, which captured the Northeast-10 Northeast Division championship and finished the regular season at 19-4, will host Saint Rose tonight in the quarterfinals of the conference championships. The Falcons are ranked 20th nationally in Division II and are number one in the NCAA Division II East Region rankings.