It's been quite some time, 34 games to be exact, since the Bentley College men's basketball team last lost a game.
Tonight, they'll get the chance to avenge that loss.
Courtesy of last night's 102-92 victory over South Regional champion North Alabama in the first round of the Elite Eight at Springfield's MassMutual Center, the still-unbeaten Falcons (34-0) will face Winona State (36-1), a 67-54 winner over previously unbeaten Grand Valley State, at 8:30. The Warriors are the only team to have beaten Bentley in the past two seasons, a span of 67 games, besting the Falcons, 64-51, in the first round of the Elite Eight last season.
This time, the Falcons vow, they'll be facing a different, more relaxed team.
``We were here last year and did not play very well,'' said Bentley coach Jay Lawson, ``and I think you saw a very focused group of student-athletes that have waited 12 months and worked very hard to get to this spot.
``They had to be fortunate to get to do it, as is the case in Division II, to get out of your region, but once they got to this game, it was pretty evident that we were different than we were last year. A little more relaxed, more like our normal selves, and we played more like our normal selves on both ends of the floor.''
Using their typically balanced offense, supreme depth and strong rebounding, the Falcons bumped off the taller and more athletic Lions with their 102 points a season-high. Six players scored in double figures for Bentley as sophomore guard Jason Westrol led with a career-high 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
After struggling in the last two games of the Northeast Regional and playing what he called the ``worst game of my college career'' in last year's loss to Winona State, junior forward Lew Finnegan came through beautifully in his second chance on the Elite Eight stage, putting up 19 points and eight rebounds. Senior point guard Yusuf Abdul-Ali had 15 points and tied for a career high with eight assists in his return to his native Springfield, while redshirt freshman guard Mike Quinn, after missing most of last year with a torn ACL, had 13. And junior forward Mike Sikonski - he of the 4.4 points per game, had 11.
Although the Falcons missed six of their last 14 free throws free throws over the final 1:41 when the game devolved into a foul-shooting contest, they still finished 27-of-36 (75 percent) for the game.
Bentley clicked all game offensively, shooting 54.8 percent (34-of-62) for the game, 57.7 (15-of-26) in the second half as the Falcons held the charging Lions at bay. Sparked by 25 points from 6-foot-6, 300-pound junior center Thomas Fraise, the Lions, down by as many as 19 in the second half, whittled the lead to as low as eight (86-78 and 96-88) thanks to Fraise's 15 second-half points and 11 after the break from Casey Holt. But 12 points from Finnegan and 11 points each from Quinn and Westrol in the second half helped repel the Lion charge, allowing the Falcon faithful to chant ``We want Winona!''
``We'll take a 10-point victory, 61-51, too, so we're thrilled either way when we have a point spread like this,'' said Lawson. ``The tempo dictates the score. This team shoots aggressively and we also got some quick shots against their defense, so there's going to be more possessions. We're just happy that we played good offense the way we should have. They extended, they came after us, and we got things to the rim. Once they started help to the rim, we got some open looks.
``They went to zone and, once Quinn and Lew hit 3s, that relaxed us when they tried zone. That's what our team is: free-flow basketball, five-man motion. We have players who can pass, dribble and shoot on the floor at all five positions most of the time.''
Though NA is known as an offensive juggernaut, having averaged 86.8 points per game this season, it was Bentley lighting up the scoreboard in the first half, shooting 52.8 percent from the field (19-of-36) and hitting 7-of-8 from the foul line to take a 48-36 lead into the break. Paced by 10 points - including two NBA distance treys - from Fraise, NA held a 22-19 lead with 10:10 to play in the first half. The Iraq War veteran scored seven of NA's first nine points, but did not score from then on into the break as the Falcons seized control for the next 6:53, launching on a 22-8 run to take a 41-29 advantage.
Abdul-Ali began the spurt with a right-handed driving layup at 9:58 before a foul-line jumper from Westrol at 9:27. Westrol, the Falcons' Mr. Efficiency, had eight points during the run, finishing the half with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
``We were tentative last year and this year, coach was telling us to be more aggressive and do what we do best,'' said Westrol. ``If I penetrated and drove and they didn't help, I would put it in, but we're so team-oriented that you can't just sit on one guy and tonight, I just happened to get some open looks.''
With NA misfiring from 3-point land (5-of-15 for the half) and the Falcon big men Sikonski and senior forward Nate Fritsch successfully denying Fraise in the post, Bentley continued to cushion the bulge as Westrol went in for a driving layup at 5:15.
Quinn scored a bucket at 4:57 and Abdul-Ali tallied an easy two off and outlet pass from Finnegan at 4:31. But the prettiest move from the former New Leadership Charter School star - the one that most excited the throng of Bentley fans who made the hour-and-a-half trek down the Pike - was a spin-and-dish to Sikonski (6 points in the first half) for a rousing dunk and a 43-31 lead at 2:21. Abdul-Ali finished the frame with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with five assists.
``We knew the first five minutes of the game, they were going to come out tough, every team does, and we just wanted to weather that storm,'' said Abdul-Ali. ``Once we did that, we regrouped, kept playing `D' and got some steals and that led to some easy points.''
Finnegan added seven points and five boards in the first 20 minutes, while Fritsch, and NABC All-American and Northeast Regional Most Outstanding Player, chipped in with seven points as Bentley racked up a 30-16 edge in points in the paint. But the Falcons may have done their best work on defense and on the glass, holding NA all-time single-season scoring leader Holt to just four first-half points while getting six points off nine turnovers and owning a 19-17 rebounding edge, despite giving up both height and athleticism.
