Ellis Cooper tosses in team-high 15 points and pulls down 10 rebounds for double-double

RINDGE, N.H. (December 7, 2011) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's basketball team battled traditional Northeast-10 Conference power Bentley tough on Wednesday night, but the Falcons were able to knock down several shots in the closing minutes to down the Ravens, 70-60, at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. Franklin Pierce had its six-game winning streak snapped and fell to 8-2 overall and 4-2 in league play. Bentley improved to 7-2 and 4-2 in the NE-10.

Three Ravens scored in double-figures, including sophomore forward Ellis Cooper's (Northampton, Mass.) team-high 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. He also tallied a double-double by ripping down a game-high tying 10 rebounds. Cooper also swiped three steals and dished out a pair of assists.

Junior guard Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.) tossed in 13 points, while reigning NE-10 rookie of the week Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) added 12.

Sam Leclerc led all scorers as the Bentley guard pumped in 24 points. Dan O'Keefe followed with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Jasper Grassa collected a team-best 10 boards.

The Ravens trailed by just 3-to-4 points for a majority of the second half, but did finally go up 51-50 with 7:40 to go after Cooper scored four-straight points, including forcing a steal at the defensive end and racing the length of the court to throw down a monster jam.

Bentley didn't flinch and countered with Leclerc knocking down a three-pointer on the Falcons' next possession and Greg Jacques converting a three-point play minutes later to make it 56-51 with 5:16 remaining.

Jean-Guillaume stemmed the tide with a pair of free throws at the other end of the court, but Leclerc answered again with another triple to make it 59-53 with 4:57 left. Senior guard Nigel Van Oostrum (Sheffield, England) responded with a layup for the Ravens, but Leclerc came up huge on the next series with another deep triple from the top of the key.

Franklin Pierce couldn't come up with the defensive stops late and could not get the crucial baskets to fall as Leclerc and O'Keefe each hit another jumper in the closing minute to seal the win for Bentley.

Bentley shot 41 percent from the floor (21-of-51), but more importantly came up big behind the arc as the Falcons knocked down 48 percent of their attempts (12-of-25). Leclerc stroked five treys for the Falcons, while O'Keefe added three triples of his own. Franklin Pierce managed to shoot just 23 percent (5-of-22) from three-point range, but what kept the Ravens in the game was an aggressive defense which forced 17 Bentley turnovers and scored 19 points off of those. Conversely, Franklin Pierce turned the ball over just seven times and only allowed the Falcons to net three points off of those.

The first was closely contested as it featured four ties and 12 lead changes. The lead was never larger than six, which came at halftime when Bentley took a 33-27 lead into the locker room after a three-pointer from O'Keefe. Cooper and Jean-Guillaume each tossed in five points during the opening 20 minutes for the Ravens.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday afternoon when it travels to take on UMass-Lowell at 4 p.m. in the Costello Center.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men's basketball, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).