ALBANY, N.Y. – Graduate transfer Matt Leritz (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS) and junior guards Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS) and Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS) each scored five points in overtime as Bentley University, the 14^th-ranked team in Division II, survived against The College of Saint Rose, 81-74, in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball Tuesday evening at the Daniel F. Nolan Gymnasium.

Leritz, a six-six forward and former Division III All-America at Illinois Wesleyan, kept Bentley in the game much of the night and finished with his personal best as a Falcon, 27 points, along with 12 rebounds. Laput followed with 22 and Latham scored ten in the final 7:12 to finish with 16.

Bentley, down eight with 8:25 to play and 64-61 with two-and-a-half left in regulation, improved to 11-1 overall and 6-1 NE10. Saint Rose, which was without two of its usual starters and relied heavily on freshmen, dropped to 7-9 with its seventh loss in eight conference games.

In a game that saw 12 lead changes and eight deadlocks, Saint Rose had the lead for nearly 34 minutes. The Golden Knights were up 35-27 at the half and ran off ten in a row midway through the second to go up eight, 55-47.

With his team down six with just under six to play, Leritz took charge with two old-fashioned three-point plays, with a steal from graduate guard Brian Wright-Kinsey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooks School) in between, to tie the game at 57 with 4:08 to play.

Five points in 45 seconds by Saint Rose six-seven junior Josh McGettigan (Southbury, Conn.) returned the lead to his team, 64-61, with 2:38 left. Bentley drew within one on a Latham drive with 2:12 remaining and it stayed that way until he buried a second-chance three-ball with 38.7 seconds on the clock, making it 66-63 Falcons.

Freshman Max Jusianiec (Alfred, N.Y.) tied the game with a driving lay-up with 17.3 to play, but two Golden Knight blocks – one by McGettigan and one by Jusaniec – in the final second forced the OT.

Leritz put Bentley in front to stay midway through the extra session on two free throws, beginning an 8-0 run that made it 76-69 with 62 seconds left. Included were two Latham free throws, a Latham trey and two more from Leritz at the line.

Saint Rose got back within four but three Laput free throws in the final 35 seconds finalized the outcome.

Leritz, who was 10 of 17 overall and seven of nine at the line, also had two assists and two blocks. Laput's line included five rebounds, three assists and three blocks, and Latham had four assists, four steals and three rebounds. Bentley also received 11 points, four steals and four blocks from Wright-Kinsey.

Freshman guard Latiek Brisco (New York, N.Y.) led Saint Rose with 20 points and both Jusianiec and six-eight freshman Adam Dudzinski (Syracuse, N.Y.) followed with 15.

Bentley, which uncharacteristically made only 3 of 16 from deep (only one in the first 39 minutes), countered with 50 points in the paint and finished with a slight edge in field goal percentage (46-43 percent) and rebounds (38-35). The Falcon defense came up with 22 "stocks" with 13 steals and nine rejections, both season-highs.

Next up for Bentley is a Saturday game at American International.