WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University Falcons, the top-ranked team in the NCAA Division II East Region, will be on the road Friday night for a non-conference encounter at the University of Bridgeport. The 7 pm game can be viewed on the CACC Digital Network (https://caccnetwork.com/ubknights/).

Coach Jay Lawson's team, number 18 in this week's NABC Division II coaches poll, will take an 8-1 record and a six-game winning streak into Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium, a building where Bentley is winless in its last three visits.

Bentley leads the East Region in 11 different team categories, including scoring offense (85.4), scoring margin (+16.8), rebound margin (+12.6), field goal percentage (.501) and three-pointers per game (10.3). The Falcons are also number one in both offensive rating and net rating.

Defensively, they lead the Northeast-10 in three-point percentage defense (.320) and are third in both field goal percentage defense (.409) and fewest fouls per game.

Bridgeport, 5-5 overall and 2-2 at home, had dropped five of six games before winning at Queens (N.Y.) last Sunday, 76-69. Against Northeast-10 opponents, the Purple Knights are 3-1 with victories against Southern New Hampshire, Southern Connecticut and American International, and a 15-point loss to Pace.

Bentley is coming off a 75-72 win over Adelphi University, a game in which the Falcons scored the final nine points, including a trio of free throws by graduate student Brian Wright-Kinsey (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooks School) with 0.8 seconds left. He finished with 13 points and set career-bests for free throws made and attempted (7-9).

All five Bentley starters average at least 11 points a game with guard Zach Laput (Beacon Falls, Conn./Notre Dame HS), the East Region's leading scorer with a 21.8 average, topping the list. The guard shoots 55 percent overall, 44 percent from outside the arc and 86 percent at the foul line while also providing 7.6 rebounds a game.  

Graduate transfer Matt Leritz (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS), a former Division III All-America at Illinois Wesleyan, leads the Northeast-10 in rebounds (9.8) and three-point accuracy (.579), and is also third in field goal percentage (.598). His scoring average is 13.8 per game.

Rounding out the starting five are Wright-Kinsey, graduate guard Mason Webb (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness HS) and junior guard Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS). Latham leads the team in steals, Wright-Kinsey has the most blocks and Webb shoots 95 percent from the charity stripe.

Off the bench, senior forward Isaac Martin (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross HS) is sixth in the conference in three-point accuracy at .462. He connected on four-of-four against Adelphi and finished with a season-best 13 points. Last year against Bridgeport, Martin put up a career-best 19 points.

Bridgeport, in Krunch Senadhi's first season at the helm, has started nine different players this season and doesn't have a single player who has started every game. Graduate transfer Matt Turner, a six-four wing, leads the team with a 14.5 scoring average and six-six senior Malcolm Moye follows at 11.5. Moye is also a factor at the defensive end with 14 blocks and ten steals.

As a team, the Purple Knights score just under 80 a game and give up 78.4. They average 8.3 three-pointers, 9.7 steals and 3.1 blocks.

The last eight games between the two programs have been won by the home team with Bentley, which trails the all-time series 20-17, looking for its first win on the UB court since December 2010.

Last year's game was all Bentley, 111-72, due in large part to a 55-28 second half. Laput and Jordan Mello-Klein each scored 21, Martin had 19 off the bench, and the Falcons were on target for 17 of 35 from three.

Bentley will also be in action Sunday with a 1 pm game against Jefferson University.