WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University men's basketball team, winners of four straight overall and seven of their last eight away from home, will look to keep the momentum going when they begin a stretch of three consecutive road games Saturday at Saint Anselm College (3:30 pm, NE10 NOW on FloCollege).
 
The 87-74 win over Franklin Pierce Tuesday boosted coach Jay Lawson's Falcons to  a season-high six games over .500, to 14-8 overall and 11-5 in the Northeast-10 Conference. With the regular season down to its final four games, Bentley is alone in third place,  one game back of second-place Pace University.
 
Saint Anselm, which ended a three-game slide Tuesday with an 86-82 victory over St. Michael's College, is 14-10 overall, including 6-6 at Stoutenburgh Gym, and 9-7 NE10. That puts the Hawks in a tie for sixth, along with Southern Connecticut State.
 
This will be the 109^th meeting between the two longtime foes with the all-time series even at 54 games apiece after Saint Anselm won at Bentley on Jan. 18, 75-73. A straight-away three ball from freshman guard Will Davies with 4.5 seconds left lifted the Hawks in a game that included a dozen lead changes.
 
Bentley featured the trio of sophomore forward Cooper Farrall (Valparaiso, Ind./Culver Academies), graduate guard Aaron Latham (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury HS) and graduate forward Ivan Misic (Toronto, Ont.) against the Hawks. They combined for 53 points and made eight of the Falcons' ten three-pointers.
 
Latham, who scores 11.6 a game, will enter Saturday's contest four points away from becoming the Falcons' 58^th 1,000-point scorer after netting 17 against Franklin Pierce. He made five of nine three-pointers against the Ravens and played at least 40 minutes for the seventh time this season.
 
Farrall has been on an impressive run with totals of 80 points and 36 points in his last four games. Over that span, he's put together a shooting line of .509/455/.889 and has raised his season averages to 16.2 points and eight rebounds.
 
Misic, who shoots .435 from three-point land, is coming of a 12-point effort against Franklin Pierce, a game in which he knocked down his first four attempts from beyond the arc.
 
The junior class, which features guard Cash McClure (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook HS), has been productive with McClure and forwards Chase Clarke (Bloomfield, N.J./Newark Academy) and Joe Carroll (Cedar Grove, N.J./Don Bosco HS) combining for about 32 points and over 15 rebounds a game.
 
McClure scored 18 against Franklin Pierce and is averaging 17 points and 7.3 rebounds. Carroll has connected at a 43 percent clip from beyond the three-point line, and Clarke (.616 from the field) has averaged 10.4 points and 6.6 rebounds in his last five games.
 
Bentley leads the conference in field goal percentage (.479) and three-point accuracy (.372), and is second in three-pointers (9.5), rebound margin (+4.3) and assist-turnover ratio (1.35).
 
Saint Anselm, in Chris Santo's first season at the helm, is second in the NE10 in scoring at 79.5 per game and ninth in points allowed, at 80.5.
 
The four Hawks who have started every game are each averaging in double figures with the list headed by six-foot-six senior Sean McCarthy. He averages 16.3 points and 8.7 rebounds, and has posted back-to-back 20-point games.
 
Junior guard Josh Morrissette follows at 14.6 a game and is the Hawks top three-point threat with 65 made and a .353 accuracy rate.
 
Before closing out the regular season at home on Feb. 25, the Falcons will also visit St. Michael's and American International.