WALTHAM, Mass. – There's been no shortage of excitement in Bentley University men's basketball games this season with eight games decided by three points or less, or in overtime, including the last three.
 
After an overtime loss at Adelphi Tuesday, Coach Jay Lawson's Falcons will look to get back on the winning track Saturday when they open the month of February at the University of New Haven (3:30 pm, NE10 NOW on FloCollege).
 
Bentley is exactly in the middle of the Northeast-10 standings with the 7-5 conference record good for sixth place. The Falcons are 10-8 overall after posting a 9-4 record since Nov. 26 and are only one game in the loss column back of third-place Assumption University.
 
Like Bentley, New Haven has a better road record (5-4) than home (3-5) this season, with one of the road wins coming against the Falcons in Waltham Jan. 5, 87-80. The Chargers are 9-11 overall and 5-8 conference, good for eighth place.
 
There were 18 lead changes and eight ties in the Adelphi game, the final deadlock coming on a Panther three-ball with five seconds left in regulation that forced the extra session. Five Falcons scored in doubles with grad students Ivan Misic (Toronto, Ont.) and Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS) each finishing with 17.
 
Latham and junior guard Cash McClure (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook HS) are both in the top ten of Division II in minutes played with Latham's 39.0 average the best in the NCAA, regardless of division. He played 43:26 against Adelphi, the sixth time this season he's played at least 40 minutes, and was 5-of-9 from the floor.
 
Latham averages 11.7 points while leading the team in assists (84) and steals (24). Over the last three, he's bumped his scoring to 15.7 a game while shooting just shy of .500.
 
Bentley's top scorers for the season are McClure and sophomore forward Cooper Farrall (Valparaiso, Ind./Culver Academies), at 17.2 and 15.3, respectively. Both players rank in the top ten of the NE10 in rebounding and field goal percentage, as well as points per game.
 
Lawson has also been receiving solid performances from Misic and junior forward Chase Clarke (Bloomfield, N.J./Newark Academy). Misic, over the last three, has averaged 17.3 points with a shooting percentages of .677 overall and .615 from three. Clarke, since Dec. 1, has averaged 10.8 points and 6.3 rebounds off the bench while making 63 percent of his shot attempts.
 
Bentley, one of three teams averaging at least 80 points in conference games, shoots .492 overall and .377 from three in NE10 action. Both rank number one in the conference.
 
New Haven, 3-5 since the calendar changed to 2025, features sophomore guard Jah'Likal King, who leads the team in scoring (15.3), assists (64) and steals (18). He's scored at least 20 in four of the last five games with 27 against both St. Michael's and Southern New Hampshire during that span.
 
Also possessing double-digit scoring averages for the Chargers are senior guard Seth Sharif-Brown and junior forward Ethan Simmon, with each slightly under 12 a game.
 
New Haven, which has lost to Franklin Pierce (72-64) and Southern New Hampshire (74-67) in its last two games, is 10^th in the conference in scoring (72.4) and fourth in defense (73.7). They average 56 shots a game, six a game fewer than the Falcons.
 
In the earlier meeting, Clarke and Farrall each scored 20 for Bentley, but New Haven shot a season-best 67 percent overall and made 8 of 16 from deep to win by seven, 87-80. Simmon was a force, with 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting, and King added 20.
 
After the trip to Connecticut, Bentley will return to begin preparations for Wednesday's home game against second-place Pace.