Late turnover costs Ravens chance to snap Falcons 39-game regular season winning streak

RINDGE, N.H. (January 8, 2008) – Bentley College, ranked No. 1 in this week’s National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II poll, survived a scare from Franklin Pierce University to claim a 63-62 victory in Northeast-10 Conference men’s basketball action at the Fieldhouse tonight.

Sophomore Jason Westrol (Brielle, N.J./Manasquan) stole an inbound pass from Franklin Pierce junior Craig Shepherd (Grantham, Mass./Trinity) and laid the ball in with 12-seconds to play to put Bentley in front for good and extend the Falcons regular season winning streak to 40 games. Franklin Pierce has two shots at the winning basket at the other end, but freshman Kinard Dozier (Dedham, Mass./The Winchendon School) missed a driving lay-up and classmate Terrell Ray (Brooklyn, N.Y./Fort Hamilton) collected the rebound, but his put back fell off the rim as time expired.

Senior Yusuf Abdul-Ali (Springfield, Mass./New Leadership Charter School) led five players in double-figures for Bentley, scoring 15 points to go with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Junior Lew Finnegan (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) added 13 points, aided by 8-of-9 shooting from the free-throw line, and six rebounds. Westrol finished with a double-double effort of ten points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore Mike Quinn (Oakdale, Conn./Montville) chipped in 11 points and four assists.

Junior Timothy Munch (Blauvelt, N.Y./Storm King Prep) led Franklin Pierce with 15 points, two rebounds and two steals. Classmate Rimas Varanauskas (Kaunas, Lithuania/The Winchendon School) totaled 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots, while freshman Jeff Manchester (Gorham, Maine/Gorham) chipped in nine points, hitting 3-of-4 three-pointers, four rebounds and two steals.

Franklin Pierce shot 43.9-percent (25-for-57) from the field for the contest, compared to 38% (19-50) for Bentley. The Falcons overcame that shortage by out-scoring the hosts 18-6 at the free-throw line, converting 81.8% (18-22) of their attempts at the stripe.

Bentley, whose largest lead (five points) of the night came 5:21 into the contest, rallied from seven point deficits in each half. The Falcons trailed by that margin (23-16) after a Varanauskas lay-up with 2:35 to play in the opening frame, but held Franklin Pierce to just one field goal the rest of the half and took a two-point lead (29-27) into the lockerroom after a Finnegan three with 41-seconds on the clock.

A Michael Sikonski (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional) jumper had the top-ranked team in the country up two (34-32) 4:10 into the second half, but Franklin Pierce took a lead it would hold until the final two minutes with a 9-3 run to open a four-point lead (41-37) after a Varanauskas lay-up with 12:50 to go.

Franklin Pierce’s lead would reach six points twice over the next three minutes, the latter coming after a Munch jumper with 9:51 to go. Ray scored a lay-up to put the hosts up seven (53-46) with 7:48 left, but Bentley posted an 11-3 run to regain the lead after two Westrol free-throws with 2:59 on the clock.

Freshman Mike Barrow (Mattapan, Mass./Hebron Academy) hit a jumper with 1:33 left to give the Ravens the lead (60-59) with 93-seconds to play. The teams both missed on their next possessions, before Shepherd hit two free-throws with 21-seconds to go to put Franklin Pierce up three (62-59). Senior Nate Fritsch (Durham, N.C./Woodbury Forest) was fouled going to the basket and hit both free-throws to draw the Falcons within a point with 15-seconds left leading to the costly Raven turnover.

Franklin Pierce (5-9, 1-8 NE-10) is back in action on Saturday when it hosts Southern New Hampshire University at 3:30 p.m. Bentley (13-0, 8-0 NE-10) hosts Le Moyne College on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.