WALTHAM, Mass. – For the first time in more than eight months, basketball will be back in the Dana Center this weekend when the Bentley University men's basketball team hosts a pair of non-conference games. The defending NCAA Division II East Regional champions will take on Dominican University Saturday at 3 pm and will face Post University Sunday at 5 pm.

Admission for both games will be free of charge and fans who can't make it to the Dana Center can watch on the NE10 NOW Digital Network (NE10NOW.tv).

Bentley, which closed out last season with a 14-game home winning streak, comes into the home opener with a 3-1 record, including 1-1 Northeast-10, following a 78-60 win at Southern New Hampshire Tuesday night. The Falcons dominated the boards against the Penmen, 49-29, and limited SNHU to 37 percent shooting, including 5 of 19 from three-point range.

Coach Jay Lawson's team, which is ranked 19^th in the D2SIDA media poll, will be facing two very good opponents this weekend. Dominican has opened the season with five consecutive wins, including three over NE10 opponents (Le Moyne, Saint Rose, Assumption), and Post is off to a 3-2 start with one loss by a single point and the other in OT.

All five starters for Bentley own scoring averages in double figures with junior guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS) at the top of the list. He's had at least 20 points and eight rebounds in each of the first four games and his 23.8 scoring average is a conference best, as well as the second best in the East Region.

Also in doubles are grad students Matt Leritz (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS), Brian Wright-Kinsey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooks School) and Mason Webb (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness HS), as well as junior guard Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS). Leritz is at 14.8, Latham an even 14, Wright-Kinsey at 11.3 and Webb at 10.8. Laput, Leritz and Latham have combined to make 23 of 41 three-pointers and Webb is a career 39 percent shooter from beyond the arc.

Bentley has three of the NE10's top seven rebounders to date with Leritz (9.3) and Laput (8.8) 1-2 on the list and Wright-Kinsey number seven at 7.5. Leritz ripped down 19 at Southern New Hampshire, the most by a Falcon since Charlie Wootton had 20 against Tufts in February 1978.

All five starters also are producing at least 2.5 assists a game, and Laput, Latham and Laput are in the conference's top eight in field goal percentage.

Through four games, Bentley leads the Northeast-10 in scoring (89.8), scoring margin (+17.3), rebound margin (+11.3), three-point accuracy (.468) and fewest turnovers (10.8).

Dominican, an NCAA Division II East Regional participant last March, features fifth-year senior guard Wahaad Johnson, who scores 19 a game. He had 28 points in an 87-86 win over Saint Rose earlier this season, a game that saw Joseph Merrill deliver a game-winning three just before the buzzer. He's 12 of 21 from downtown this season.

Post, which has limited its opposition to 38 percent shooting so far this season, has three players who score at least ten a game. Graduate guard Isaiah Holmes tops the list with 15.0 points and a .552 field goal percentage, and D.J. Frechette, also a grad student, follows at 12.6.

All-time, Bentley is 3-2 against Dominican, with the last meeting coming five years ago, and 6-0 against Post, including a 91-90 thriller down in Waterbury, Conn. last December that featured a game-winning three by Webb at the overtime buzzer. Laput led five double-figure scorers for the Falcons with 22 points.

The Falcons will also be at home a week from Saturday with Southern Connecticut State providing the opposition.