Bentley, the preseason favorite in the conference, is one of only four teams that has won its first two NE-10 contests of the young season, the others being UMass-Lowell, Saint Rose and surprising Southern Connecticut, which won only one conference game all of last year.
Bentley’s two conference wins, both coming at home, were against the two teams that immediately followed the Falcons in the preseason NE-10 coaches poll. Coach Jay Lawson’s club,3-2 overall, topped number three Merrimack, 62-47, and bested number two Saint Anselm by 30 on Tuesday night, 83-53.
The Falcon defense in both was outstanding with Merrimack and Saint Anselm limited to a combined .311 field goal percentage and just 10 three-pointers in 43 attempts. The Merrimack Warriors shot just .308 with two treys in 18 tries, and Saint Anselm finished at just .316.
Senior All-Conference forward Brian Tracey (Bow Mar, Colo./Heritage HS) sports the second best scoring average in the conference, 21 points per game. He’s had at least 21 in four of five games and is one of four Falcons shooting at least 40 percent from outside the three-point line.
Tracey has connected on 46 percent of his threes and starting guards Mike Quinn (Oakdale, Conn./Montville HS) and Sam Leclerc (Fayette, Maine/Winthrop HS) have also been on target from three. Quinn, with a team-best 16 threes and a 14.2 scoring average, has a .432 accuracy mark and Leclerc (9.2 ppg) is at .455. Off the bench, sophomore Greg Jacques (Brockton/St. Sebastian’s HS) has buried half of his 14 attempts from downtown while giving the Falcons nine points a game.
Sunday’s game will be a homecoming for Manchester native Joe Fremeau (Manchester, N.H./ Central HS). He’s second on the team in rebounds with a 6.0 average and also produces 4.8 points per game.
Southern New Hampshire, which gave coach Stan Stirou his 500th career victory with an opening day win over Thomas College, has come up short in its two conference contests. The Penmen, 2-2 overall, lost to crosstown rival Saint Anselm by 15 and dropped a 60-58 decision to UMass-Lowell on Tuesday.
A balanced scoring attack is headed by sophomore guard Greg DeSantis, who is averaging 13.5 points and five assists.
Bentley won both meetings with SNHU last year, prevailing 83-71 at home and 72-66 in OT in February in its last visit to the SNHU Fieldhouse.
The two-game road trip will continue Wednesday night at UMass-Lowell.
Links for live stats and free live video of Sunday’s game will be posted at www.bentleyfalcons.com.
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