RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Bentley University junior guard Cash McClure (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook HS) scored his team's final nine points and the Falcons survived a wild final second to claim their fourth straight victory, 81-80 over Felician University in non-conference men's basketball Wednesday night at the Joel & Joseph Job Gymnasium.

After McClure helped to turn a three-point deficit into an 81-79 lead with 1:15 to play, each team committed a turnover with Felician possessing the ball with 23 seconds left.

Sophomore guard John Fitzpatrick (East Brunswick, N.J.), the game's top scorer with 28 points, missed a jumper in the paint with the ball going out of bounds to the home Golden Falcons with :04 to play. Junior guard Marcus Pierce (Millville, N.J) was fouled with 1.5 on the clock and he inadvertently made the second after misfiring on the first, with Bentley remaining in front, now at 81-80.

A Bentley player lost his footing on the inbound attempt, returning the ball to Felician, and the first Golden Falcon attempt to inbound was deflected out of bounds, reducing the time on the clock to seven-tenths of a second.

Bentley junior forward Chase Clarke (Bloomfield, N.J./Newark Academy) deflected the inbound pass into the hands of Felician's 6-9 Jonathan Izemel (White Plains, Md.), and his apparent successful shot was immediately ruled to have come after the buzzer, enabling the Falcons to post their second straight one-point win.

Bentley twice built a double-figure lead in the first half, but it was a nailbiter over the final 11:30 with the two teams never separated by more than three points. Twelve of the game's 17 lead changes and five of the 12 ties came during that span.

Bentley, on the short end of a 77-74 score as the clock moved under three minutes, drew within one on a McClure driving lay-up with 2:47 left. A steal and another drive to the hole by McClure returned the lead to the visitors, 78-77, with 2:14 to play.

Felician retook the advantage with two free throws by 6-8 senior Jhonny Tovar (Rutherford, N.J.). After Bentley missed a three and the Golden Falcons were called with a rare 10-second violation, coach Jay Lawson's team had the ball with 1:30 left. Less than 20 seconds later, McClure drained a straightaway three to produce the 81-79 Falcon lead with 75 seconds to go.

All five Bentley starters scored at least nine with McClure at the top of the list with 20, including 16 in the second half. Junior forward Joe Carroll (Cedar Grove, N.J./Don Bosco) scored 16 on 7-of-11 shooting in his return to his home state.and sophomore forward Cooper Farrall (Valparaiso, Ind./Culver Academies) followed with 15. Graduate guard Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS) finished with 11 points and three assists in 38-plus turnover-free minutes, and sophomore guard Dre Roman (Loiza, P.R.) had nine.

Bentley shot .516 overall, made ten three-pointers and connected at a .600 accuracy rate in the second half. Felician (5-5) finished at .431 and committed only nine turnovers, three less than Bentley.

The Falcons, 5-4 after three straight road wins, will close out the 2024 portion of the schedule Saturday with a 1 pm home game against Caldwell University.