WALTHAM, Mass. – Following a tough loss at Adelphi University Saturday, the Bentley University men's basketball team will look to bounce back Wednesday night when it plays a 7:30 pm game at Southern New Hampshire University. As always with conference games, it will be streamed for free on the NE10 NOW Digital Network.

Through four conference games, Southern New Hampshire (5-2, 3-1 NE10) is in a three-way tie for second , trailing St. Michael's College, and Bentley (5-3, 2-2) is in a three-way tie for sixth.

Bentley's three losses this season have all been one-possession games, two decided by three points and the other in overtime. In the Adelphi game, the Panthers closed with an 8-2 run over the final 85 seconds after two free throws from senior guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS) put the Falcons up 66-63 with 2:37 to play.

The Falcons, who had the lead for only 4:42, were outscored in the paint, 36-22, and outrebounded by the same differential, 38-24. Bentley knocked down 10 three-pointers with a .435 accuracy mark from deep but collected only two offensive rebounds. The top scorers with Laput and graduate guard Kellan Bochenek (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont HS), with 18 and 14 points, respectively.

Laput, last year's NE10 Player of the Year, is second in the conference with a 21.5 scoring average. He also leads the team in rebounds (6.9) and assists (29).

Also scoring in doubles for coach Jay Lawson's team, all with averages between 10.4 and 11.5, are senior guard Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS), sophomore guard Cash McClure (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook HS) and Bochenek. Bochenek, in the last two games, has buried eight of 14 attempts from three-point land.

Southern New Hampshire, which is coming off a 64-58 win at New Haven, has five players who are scoring at least ten a game with graduate guard Matt Becht at the top of the list. Owner of a 15.6 average, he's shooting 44 percent from deep but is only 7 of 21 from inside the arc.

Hartford transfer Kurtis Henderson and St. Peter's transfer Alex Rivera, a pair of newcomers, follow in the scoring column, with averages of 12.7 and 11.7, respectively. SNHU is Rivera's fourth school as he's previously played at UMass-Lowell and LIU-Brooklyn, as well as St. Peter's.

Southern New Hampshire is coached by Jack Perri, a former two-year Bentley captain and Lawson's top assistant from 1998-2004. Lawson's and Perri's teams have met ten times previously with the Falcons owning a 7-3 advantage.

The two programs split against each other last season with the road team taking each contest. Bentley won in Manchester in November 2022, 78-60, and the Penmen prevailed in Waltham Feb. 1, 81-76. Laput averaged 23 points for Bentley and Becht had 34 in the SNHU win.

Next Tuesday, Bentley will be back at home for a Tuesday matinee against Felician University with tip-off set for 3 pm. That's a change from the previously announced time.