Senior guard John Brandt provided a career-best 17 points off the bench and senior forward Brian Tracey matched him in the scoring column, with 15 of his 17 coming in the second half, as Bentley University posted an 83-71 win over Southern New Hampshire University in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball at the Dana Center yesterday afternoon.
Bentley, ranked fifth in this week's NABC Division II coaches poll, rebounded from Tuesday's loss at Saint Anselm to improve to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the Northeast-10. Southern New Hampshire dropped its second straight conference game, falling to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the NE-10.
Bentley got off to a very slow start, missing five of its first six shots and falling behind 14-7 after close to seven minutes of play. A jumper in the paint by Tracey launched a 14-2 spurt that put the Falcons up 21-16 and the home team remained in front the rest of the way.
Bentley, despite playing a good share of the first half without Tracey and senior All-America Jason Westrol due to foul trouble, led by as many as 12 in the first half and went into the break up six, 38-32.
A corner 3-pointer by Westrol with 7:09 left in the second half put Bentley up 15, 70-55, but SNHU wasn't going away. The Penmen cut the margin to seven, 74-67 with 3:43 left, after a 12-4 spurt.
Bentley answered by scoring the next nine points, making it a 16-point differential with 1:20 left.
Bentley is back at home on Wednesday night for a 7:30 encounter with UMass-Lowell. That will be the Falcons' final Dana Center appearance until January.
Brandeis 79, Vassar 52
The Brandeis University men's basketball team, ranked 22nd in the nation in Division III, bounced back from its first loss of the season by shooting a season-high 59.6 percent from the floor (31-of-52) in a 79-52 rout of Vassar yesterday at Red Auerbach Arena.
Brandeis (3-1) was led by senior forward Terrell Hollins, who scored a season-high 19 points, including 12 in the second half. Sophomore Vytas Kriskus added 16 points off the bench, while classmate Tyrone Hughes chipped in 10 points and had a game-high four steals.
Vassar (2-3) got 31 points from sophomore guard Caleb McGraw.
After the teams traded buckets on the first five possessions of the game, Hollins hit a pair of free throws that gave Brandeis an 8-5 lead it never relinquished. The Judges held the Brewers to just two field goals over the first 12-plus minutes of second-half action as they pushed the lead to as large as 31 points.
The Judges are next in action tomorrow at 7 p.m., when head coach Brian Meehan will go for his 100th victory on the Brandeis sideline against his alma mater, Clark University.
Women's Basketball
SNHU 70, Bentley 63 (OT)
Despite a season-high 23 points from junior All-Conference guard Kim Brennan, Bentley University dropped a 70-63 overtime decision to visiting Southern New Hampshire University in Northeast-10 Conference women's basketball at the Dana Center.
SNHU, with just its third win in 29 meetings all-time with the Falcons, received a total of 56 points from freshman Sloane Sorrell and seniors Jenny McDade and Ashira Carrington. Sorrell had a career-best 19 points, McDade posted a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Carrington added 18, with her seven OT points matching Bentley's total in the extra session.
Bentley, with its second OT loss of the season, fell to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the NE-10. Southern New Hampshire has an identical conference record and improved to 4-3 overall.
Tufts 60, Brandeis 50
Three different Tufts University starters recorded double-double performances as the visiting Jumbos snapped a 15-game regular-season non-conference winning streak with a victory at Brandeis University.
Tufts (3-1) senior Julia Baily had 20 points and 15 rebounds, and sophomore Katy Barnosky added 12 points and 11 boards. Junior guard Colleen Hart chipped in 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Tufts also scored 21 points off of 21 Brandeis turnovers, while only giving up the ball nine times themselves.
Brandeis (5-1) was paced by senior guard Jessica Chapin, who had 13 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Diana Cincotta added 11 points off the bench.
Brandeis is next in action tomorrow night at Emmanuel College at 7 p.m.
Men's Hockey
Bentley takes third place
Bentley University took third place at the RPI Holiday Tournament after defeating Lake Superior State in a shootout 2-0 Saturday afternoon at Houston Field House. Senior Marc Menzione and junior Dustin Cloutier scored shootout goals for the Falcons. The game will go into the books as a 2-2 tie.
Three periods of regulation and five minutes of overtime weren't enough to determine a winner, so the game went to a three-round shootout after overtime ended with the game still tied at two.
Falcons goalie Kyle Rank, who was the star of the game with 49 saves, first denied Lake Superior's Brad Cooper with a pad save. Menzione shot next, beating Lakers goalie Brian Mahoney-Wilson with a nifty top-shelf backhand shot to give Bentley a 1-0 lead.
Rank then stifled Lake Superior's Chad Nehring, saving his wrist shot with another pad save. That set the stage for Cloutier, who snuck the puck under Mahoney-Wilson's pads with a wrist shot for the win.
Bentley's third-place finish came a day after the Falcons fell 5-2 to Rensselaer, which hosted the tourney.
Bentley moves to 5-6-3 on the season while the Lakers go to 6-7-3. The Falcons return to the ice Friday when they open a weekend Atlantic Hockey series at Canisius.
