WALTHAM, Mass. – Two teams that need no introduction to each other will square off Wednesday night when the Bentley University Falcons are in Manchester, N.H. to take on the Saint Anselm College Hawks in the semifinals of the Northeast-10 Conference Men's Basketball Championships. The 7 pm game from Stoutenburgh Gymnasium can be viewed on the NE10NOW Digital Network.

It will be the third meeting of the season between the two teams, the sixth during the last two seasons and the 105^th all-time with Bentley holding a slim 53-51 lead in the series. It will also be the 19^th time the two will meet in the conference championships with each having won nine times previously.

The two coaches, Bentley's Jay Lawson and Saint Anselm's Keith Dickson, were classmates at the University of New Hampshire, and this will be the 74^th time their teams have squared off during their 30-plus years at their helm.

Third-seeded Bentley, which returned to the NABC Division II top 25 this week at number 24, will travel to the Granite State with a conference-best 21-5 overall record following a 78-67 quarterfinal win over Le Moyne Sunday. Meanwhile, the second-seeded and 20-7 Hawks advanced with a 78-70 victory over number seven Pace.

Wednesday's game will be the rubber game between the Falcons and Hawks this season with the home team having prevailed in the first two. Saint Anselm won on November 19, 78-73, after closing with a 14-8 run and Bentley scored eight of the final ten points on January 25 for a 77-71 victory.

In Bentley's quarterfinal win against Le Moyne, the Falcons were a force on both boards, finishing with a plus-20 rebound margin and 20 second-chance points on the strength of 14 offensive rebounds. Junior guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS), who was named the Northeast-10 Player of the Year on Monday, had 29 points and 11 rebounds and graduate forward Matt Leritz (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS), a second-team All-Conference honoree, followed with 18 and 12.

Lawson has gone with the same starting five in every game to date with Laput and Leritz joined by junior guard Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS) and graduate guards Mason Webb (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness HS) and Brian Wright-Kinsey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooks School). Webb, who has moved to within 20 points of 1400 career, was named to the All-Northeast-10 third team, and Wright-Kinsey was selected for the conference's All-Defensive Team.

Laput, who is 19 points away from 1,000, leads the conference in scoring with his 20.7 average 12th best in program history. Leritz has 32 rebounds in his last two games and is averaging 14.2 points and 9.3 rebounds. Webb's scoring is up to 14.0 and he's one of three players in the NE10 with at least 60 three-pointers and a .400 accuracy mark from deep.

Latham, in his first season as a starter, provides 11.7 points and 3.7 assists a game. Wright-Kinsey leads Bentley in steals (28), blocks (30) and assist-turnover margin (2.7) in addition to averaging 9.7 points and 7.3 rebounds.

Bentley, which has three of the conference's most accurate three-point shooters, hasn't shot well from deep against Saint Anselm, connecting at just a .347 clip in the two games. However, the Falcons have protected the ball, committing only nine turnovers a game. Laput averaged 18 points against the Hawks and Webb 16 while burying seven of 13 from downtown.

The Falcons lead the Northeast-10 in numerous categories, including scoring, scoring margin, field goal percentage, rebounds, rebound margin and assists.

Saint Anselm is the only team in the conference to have two first-team All-Northeast-10 honorees, veteran guards Tyler Arbuckle and Miles Tension. It's a duo who have torched the Falcons this season with Tention having scored 63 points in the two games and Arbuckle 36 with each having played all 80 minutes. Tention has made six of 13 from downtown and 17 of 18 free throws while Arbuckle is six of eight from outside the arc.

For the season, Arbuckle is second to Laput on the conference scoring list with a 17.8 average and Tention puts up 15.4 a game. Both have been outstanding from deep with Tention's .482 three-point percentage third best in Division II and Arbuckle a .455 shooter from outside the arc.

Saint Anselm, which is 11-2 at home this season, has two others who average over ten a game. Six-seven senior Owen McGlashan, a 42 percent three-point shooter, has a 12.9 scoring average and six-seven sophomore Zac Taylor is at 10.4. Junior guard Matt Becker is also a key contributor, averaging 9.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists.

In their quarterfinal game, Saint Anselm outshot Pace 51-44 percent and had an 18-9 advantage in points off turnovers. All five starters scored in doubles with Arbuckle leading the way with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

Saint Anselm, the conference leader in three-pointers made and three-point percentage, is second to Bentley in scoring (75.7) and field goal percentage (.464).

The other semifinal will be on the other side of Manchester with top-seeded Southern New Hampshire hosting fourth-seeded New Haven. Those two met only once during the regular season with SNHU crushing the Chargers, 80-52.

The conference championship game is scheduled for Saturday with the highest surviving seed the home team.