WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University men's basketball team will be looking for its second four-game winning streak of the season Saturday when the Falcons host Saint Anselm College Saturday at the Dana Center during Waltham Community Weekend (3:30 pm, NE10 NOW on FloCollege).
Bentley, 9-6 overall and 6-3 in the Northeast-10, has won three straight, all by double figures, and eight of its last ten. The Falcons have won six in a row on the road, but have struggled at home this season with only three wins in seven games.
Saint Anselm, after a 6-2 start this season, is 3-5 since Dec. 8 but has won its last two road games, including 83-81 at Southern New Hampshire Tuesday. The Hawks will come into Waltham with records of 9-7 overall and 5-4 NE10.
Coach
Jay Lawson's Falcons has limited the opponents to 67.3 points a game during the current streak, wins against Saint Michael's, Assumption and most recently, Franklin Pierce. Those three teams have shot just .385 against Bentley, with the Falcons' field goal percentage defense dropping from .450 to .435, sixth best in the conference.
Offensively, sophomore forward
Cooper Farrall (Valparaiso, Ind./Culver Academies) has twice set career highs for points and rebounds during that span while also earning the Northeast-10 Player of the Week award on Monday. He had 27 points and 13 rebounds in the road win at Franklin Pierce and over the last three games, has averaged 23 points, on 64 percent shooting, and 10.7 boards.
For the season, Farrall leads the Falcons in rebounds (8.1) and is second on scoring with a15.9 average. That trails junior guard
Cash McClure (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook HS), whose 18.6 average is third in the conference. He's also fourth in rebounding and sixth in field goal percentage.
McClure and Farrell are two of Bentley's five rotation players who are shooting at least 50 percent from the field. Heading the list is junior forward
Chase Clarke (Bloomfield, N.J./Newark Academy) at .585. He averages 8.3 points off the bench while playing 18 minutes per game.
Graduate guard
Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS) leads all of college basketball in minutes played, averaging 38.7 minutes per game. He's third in the NE10 in assists per game (4.5) and also scores 10.9 a game.
In conference play, Bentley leads the NE10 in scoring (81.4), field goal percentage (.504), three-point accuracy (.377) and rebound margin (+7.1).
Saint Anselm, in Chris Santo's first season at the helm after the retirement of longtime head coach Keith Dickson, is in the top three in the NE10 in scoring (79.9) but is towards the bottom in scoring defense at 79.4.
The Hawks have four double-figure scorers with the list headed by senior forward Sean McCarthy, who is in his second season with Saint Anselm after transferring from Felician. He's led the Hawks in scoring six times with a high of 30 against Bridgeport Dec. 21. He's also the leader in the boards with nine a game.
The others in doubles are junior guard Josh Morrissette (15.1), transfer forward Juju Ramirez (13.1) and freshman guard Erik Oliver-Bush (11.9).
Bentley and Saint Anselm have met 107 times over the years with the Falcons owning the advantage by the slimmest of margins, 54-53. They split the regular season series the last two years with both of last year's games decided by three points.
After facing the Hawks, Bentley will have a midweek bye. The Falcons will return to action next Saturday with a home game against Southern Connecticut State.
