WALTHAM, Mass. – One victory away from the 18th 20-win season in program history, the Bentley University men's basketball team will finish the regular season Tuesday with a Senior Night game against American International on Barbara Stevens Court. Tip-off is set for 7:30 pm and the game will be streamed over the NE10 NOW Digital Network.

A win over the Yellow Jackets will lock up a first-round bye in the upcoming Northeast-10 championship tournament for coach Jay Lawson's Falcons, who are 19-5 overall and 14-5 NE10. Bentley, after coming up short in three out of its last five, has fallen out of first place in the Northeast-10 into a tie for second, a game back of Southern New Hampshire.

AIC, 5-22 overall and 3-16 conference, is tied for 12^th with Saint Rose after losing six in a row and 14 of its last 15. Last week, the Yellow Jackets had leads of nine points against Southern New Hampshire and seven against Southern Connecticut before being overtaken.

Bentley, number 22 in last week's NABC Division II coaches rankings, will be looking to bounce back after being denied by Franklin Pierce Saturday in its first attempt to reach the 20-win mark. Down five with two-and-a-half minutes left, the Ravens closed with eight straight points to gain the upset.

Spoiled by the loss was a career scoring performance for junior guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame GS). The Northeast-10 Player of the Week scored 30 points while making 13 of his first 19 shots. Over the last two games, he's totaled 56 points on 67 percent shooting.

That effort elevated Laput's scoring average to 20.5 and was the 17^th time this season he's had 20 or more. Laput shoots 55 percent overall, makes 42 percent of his threes  and is an 84 percent foul shooter. He also contributes 6.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.1 steals a game, and is eight points shy of 500 for the season.

Graduate forward Matt Leritz (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS), a former Division III All-America at Illinois Wesleyan, scores 14.2 points a game and remains in the top three in the NE10 in field goal performance, three-point accuracy and rebounds.

Graduate guard Mason Webb (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness HS) follows with a 13.9 average. He scored 18 against Franklin Pierce and needs 12 points to move into Bentley's career top 25. In addition, he is one of eight players in program history with at least 200 three-pointers and 200 free throws.

Webb and Leritz will be recognized pregame along with graduate guard Brian Wright-Kinsey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooks School) and seniors Kellen Bochenek (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont HS) and Isaac Martin (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross HS). Weight-Kinsey produces 98 points and 7.7 rebounds a game off the bench while Bochenek and Martin are Bentley's first two players off the bench.

While Bentley is the NE10 scoring leader and number one in defending the three, AIC is last in offense, next to last in points allowed and last in defending the three.

AIC's top scorer is freshman guard Jack Hall, who averages 13.5 points and is number two in three-pointers made (76). Also averaging in doubles are sophomore Justice Ellison and junior Jalen Jordan, at 13.1 and 10.3, respectively.

This will be the second meeting between the two programs this season. In the first, on January 7 in Springfield, Bentley prevailed 78-64 with Leritz and Wright-Kinsey each scoring 17 points and combining to make 14 of 19 baskets.

The Falcons are 51-28 all-time against the Jackets after stringing together eight straight wins and posting a 29-2 record this over the last 22 seasons.