BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Junior guard Cash McClure (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook HS) and junior forward Chase Clarke (Bloomfield, N.J./Newark Academy) combined for 35 points, 17 rebounds and 17 free throws as Bentley University earned an 80-65 win over the University Bridgeport in non-conference men's basketball Sunday afternoon at Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium.
 
McClure finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, and now has 72 points in his last three games. Clarke had a career-game for Bentley off the bench, finishing with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
 
Bentley took charge of the game by embarking on a 27-7 run over the final 9:50 of the first half, a spurt that turned a two-point deficit into a 38-20 lead. That Falcon surge was ignited by the entrance of Clarke into the game. Over that span, Clarke had four points, five rebounds and two assists.
 
Clarke was one of six Falcons to contribute points during that explosion. McClure, whose three-pointer with 9:34 broke a 13-all tie and put Bentley in front to stay, had ten of his 19 during that span, and the Falcons also received five apiece from grad students Ivan Misic (Toronto, Ont.) and Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS).
 
Bridgeport (4-3) started the second half with an 11-3 run to reduce the Falcon advantage to ten points, 41-31. Following two free throws from both McClure and Clarke and a three-ball from Latham, the Falcons were back up 17, 48-31.
 
Later in the second, the Falcons used a 10-2 spurt to extend the lead from 11 to 19, 60-41, with 9:43 remaining. Sophomore forward Cooper Farrall (Valparaiso, Ind./Culver Academies) scored four of the ten and both Misic and McClure connected from downtown.
 
The differential remained between 14 and 20 points the rest of the way.
 
Bentley spent a great deal of time at the line, with the 23 makes from the charity stripe and 29 attempts both season-highs. McClure made all eight of his free throws and Clarke finished eight of nine. Both players were four of eight from the field.
 
They were followed on the scoring list by Latham and Farrall, with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Farrall also had ten rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
 
Bridgeport's top scorer was six-six red-shirt freshman Gabe Charleston, with 22 points.
 
Bentley limited Bridgeport to 21 percent shooting in the first half with the Purple Knights' 7 of 34 including just one three-ball in 14 attempts. Overall, the Falcons outshot the home team 47-35 percent. Three-pointers favored the Falcons 43-23 percent in accuracy and 9-5 in makes.
 
Rebounds (41-39) and second chance points (21-18) slightly favored Bentley and Bridgeport had the edge in points off turnovers, 15-9.
 
Bentley will be back in the Nutmeg State next Saturday for a Northeast-10 encounter at Southern Connecticut State.