WALTHAM, Mass. – The 60th season of Bentley University men's basketball will get underway this weekend with the Falcons competing in the 2022 Tournament of Heroes at the College of Staten Island.

Bentley, ranked 14th in the NABC Division II national coaches poll, will open Friday at 5 pm against Goldey-Beacom College. It will be a short turnaround for coach Jay Lawson and his staff with game two Saturday at noon against Wilmington University (Del.).

Links to view both games will be posted at www.bentleyfalcons.com/composite.

Lawson, who is beginning his 32^nd year at the helm, has seven healthy players back from last year's team which finished at 25-5 overall and advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight after capturing the Northeast-10 Northeast Division regular season title, the NE10 tournament championship and the East Regional crown.

Four of those returnees project to be in the starting lineup for the opening tap to the season. That includes graduate students Mason Webb (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness HS) and Brian Wright-Kinsey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooks School) and junior wing Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS).

Webb and Laput both averaged nearly 15 points last season with Webb draining 67 three-pointers and Laput grabbing close to seven rebounds a game. Wright-Kinsey started about half the time and provided 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest.

Joining those three in the starting five will likely be junior point Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS) and 6-6 graduate transfer Matt Leritz (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS). Latham saw limited action last season while backing up standout guard Jordan Mello-Klein, the only Division II player nationally in 2021-22 to average 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Leritz comes to Bentley from Illinois Wesleyan University, where he was a two-time Division III All-America and the CoSIDA NCAA Division III Academic All-America of the Year. Last season, he averaged 17.8 points and 9.5 rebounds.

Lawson's rotation is expected to include 6-5 senior Isaac Martin (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross HS), 6-6 freshman Joe Carroll (Cedar Grove, N.J./Don Bosco Prep HS), senior wing Kellen Bochenek (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont HS) and freshman guard Cash McClure (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook HS).

Goldey-Beacom, 14-14 last season, is forecast to finish third in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference's South Division. Key players for the Lightning include sophomore guard Mekhi Collins, a starter in 26 games last season who averaged 10.5 points and 5.3 rebounds, and junior guard Zack Oree, who scored about five a game. Goldey-Beacom will have to replace their top three scorers, including Nazim Derry, who netted about 20 a game before transferring to New Hampshire over the summer.

Wilmington is coming off an 11-18 season that included a four-game winning streak to close out the regular season. The Wildcats return a trio of players who averaged in double digits, including 6-7 senior guard Randy Ricketts. He led the team with 14.4 points a game and also claimed an average of 8.4 rebounds. The returnees also include senior guard Justin Thomas (12.5 PPG) and junior guard Caleb Matthews (11.3 PPG).

Following the trip to New York, Bentley will be off until a week from Saturday when the Falcons open Northeast-10 play at Saint Anselm.