The two-day event begins on Friday with Merrimack College facing Concordia College at 6 pm, and Bentley following the Warriors to the court, taking on Bloomfield College at 8 pm. The opponents will be switched on Saturday with an 8 pm match-up between Bentley and Concordia following the Merrimack-Bloomfield encounter (6 pm).
Three of the four teams, all except Concordia, won at least 21 games last season, and Concordia showed that they are also a team to be reckoned with after topping Division I Manhattan in an exhibition game earlier this week.
Each of the four has a returning All-Conference player. Bentley’s Brian Tracey (Bow Mar, Colo./ Heritage HS) and Merrimack’s Darin Mency were both second-team All-Northeast-10 last winter, Bloomfield’s Gage Daye was the 2009-10 Player of the Year in the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference, and Concordia six-foot-ten center William Eason earned second-team All-CACC honors.
Bentley, selected seventh in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II preseason rankings after reaching the NCAA Division II national semifinals for the second time in three seasons, tuned up for the season by giving Big East member Providence College a battle in an exhibition last Saturday before falling by seven, 83-76. Senior guard Tom Dowling (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side HS) and Tracey led the way, finishing with 27 and 23 points, respectively.
Against the Friars, those two were joined in Lawson’s starting five by grad student Mike Quinn (Oakdale, Conn./Montville HS), senior forward Joe Fremeau (Manchester, N.H./Central HS) and sophomore guard Mike Topercer (Scottsdale, Ariz./New Hampton Prep). His nine-man rotation in the game also included junior forward Kevin Kettl (Hershey, Pa./Hershey HS), sophomores Greg Jacques (Brockton/Brockton HS) and Dan O’Keefe (Lexington/Lexington HS), and Bryant transfer guard Sam Leclerc (Fayette, Maine/Winthrop HS).
Quinn has started each of Bentley’s last 101 games, is eighth in school history in career three-pointers (179) and netted a career-best 8.2 points a game last season. Fremeau, in his first season as a starter, gave the Falcons about six points and five rebounds a game last winter.
Bloomfield is coming off a 21-8 season with Daye one of two returning starters for coach Gerald Holmes’ team. Daye had an outstanding junior season, with his 26 point per game average second nationally in Division II. He was also third nationally in steals, averaging 2.7 a game, and also produced 6.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per contest.
Concordia struggled to an 8-19 record a year ago, but tuned up for the weekend with an 82-80 exhibition win over Manhattan in the debut of Brian Sondey as the team’s interim head coach. Eason, who was fourth in Division II in rebounds last season, gave the Clippers 17 points and 18 rebounds, and sophomore forward Argelis Gil, last year’s leading scorer, had 19 points.
Merrimack, picked third in the NE-10 preseason and 22nd in Division II, features senior guard Darin Mency. He averaged 16.9 points and 7.4 rebounds a year ago, and enters his final season with 1,485 points. Mency is one of three returning double-figure scorers for veteran coach and Bentley Athletic Hall of Famer Bert Hammel, the others being guard Wayne Mack and six-foot-seven Aaron Strothers.
Bentley and Merrimack will both be back in the Dana Center on Wednesday when the two teams launch their Northeast-10 schedule against each other.
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