COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team was within five points of 12th-ranked Bentley University with less than two minutes remaining on Saturday before succumbing to the Falcons, 70-58, in a Northeast-10 Conference contest at the Ross Sports Center.

Bentley is 12th in the latest D2SIDA National Media Poll and 14th in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) rankings. The Falcons are first in the most recent D2SIDA East Region Media Poll.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (8-10, 2-8 NE10), Bentley (14-1, 9-1 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• First-year Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass./Brooks School), 23 points (career high), 4 rebounds, 9-for-15 field goals, 5-for-6 three-pointers
• First-year Alan Brzezinski (Örebro, Sweden/Western Reserve Academy), 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 offensive rebounds
• Sophomore CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 8 points, 2 steals
• First-year Matt Houde (Windsor Locks, Conn./Saint Thomas More School), 8 points, 3-for-4 field goals, 2-for-2 three-pointers
• Junior Joël Kabimba (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo/Middleburg Academy/Bryant), 5 rebounds, 2 assists

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Mason Webb, 20 points, 6 rebounds, 7-for-13 field goals, 4-for-4 free throws
• Junior Zach Laput, 19 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 8-for-12 field goals, 3-for-3 three-pointers
• Junior Aaron Latham, 11 points
• Graduate student Matt Leritz, 9 points, 7 rebounds
• Graduate student Brian Wright-Kinsey, 6 assists

GAME FACTS

• After entering the day with 41 points and four three-pointers in 15 games, Yepdo had a career day during his first college start.
• The teams exchanged the lead 15 times.
• Saint Michael's held Bentley to its lowest point total since last year's NCAA Division II Elite Eight.
• The Purple Knights committed only eight turnovers, reaching single digits for the fifth time this year.
• Saint Michael's buried 10 three-pointers, making at least 10 for the 10th time this season.

THE ACTION

• The hosts twice grabbed four-point leads in the opening 3:28 before Webb knocked down a three-pointer at 5:31 of the first half to give Bentley a 23-18 lead, the largest for either team in the initial 23:03 of the game.
• Brzezinski's jumper at 19:03 of the second half gave Saint Michael's a 29-28 edge, but the Falcons countered with a 13-3 run. Latham knocked down a pair of threes in that time, and Laput's jumper made it 41-32 at 15:14.
• The Purple Knights edged within four points three times before Bentley pushed the lead to double figures, at 60-50 on Leritz's lay-in with 3:14 to go.
• Brzezinski put back a teammate's miss the next time down the floor, and sophomore Jacob Duniver's (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy) three cut the deficit to 60-55 at 2:15.
• Laput canned a critical trey of his own with 1:37 left, and Latham and Webb converted consecutive pairs of free throws to put the game out of reach.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Wednesday at No. 25 Pace University, 7 p.m.
• The Setters' national ranking is according to the D2SIDA National Media Poll, while they are receiving votes toward the latest NABC national poll. Pace is third in the D2SIDA East Region Media Poll.