Bentley Men’s Basketball Ranked 14th in NABC Division II Preseason Poll
WALTHAM, Mass. – Following a trip to the Elite Eight last March, the Bentley University men's basketball team is ranked 14th in the preseason NABC Division II coaches poll, which was announced today by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Coach Jay Lawson's Falcons, the defending Northeast-10 and NCAA Division II East Region champions, return two wings who each scored 14.8 points a game last season, graduate student Mason Webb (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness HS) and junior Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS). Laput, in his first season of collegiate action, shot 51 percent overall, made 45 percent of his three-pointers and averaged nearly seven rebounds.
Webb sank 67 three-pointers for the second time in his career, including a school record-matching eight against Felician in the NCAA Division II East Regional tournament. He is Bentley's newest 1,000-point scorer and will begin this season with 1,016.
Grad student Brian Wright-Kinsey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooks School) split time between starter and sixth-man last season and averaged nearly nine points a game.
Bolstering the lineup is graduate transfer Matt Leritz (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS), who came to Bentley from Illinois Wesleyan where he was a Division III All-America and the NCAA Division III Academic All-America of the Year.
Bentley will open its season November 11 and 12 in the College of Staten Island's Tournament of Heroes.