COLCHESTER, Vt. - The 18th-ranked Saint Michael's College men's basketball team used two big runs to remain unbeaten in the Northeast-10 Conference with an 80-75 victory over Bentley University on Wednesday evening in the Ross Sports Center.
 
The first-place Purple Knights were 18th in this week's D2CSC national poll while receiving votes toward the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) national rankings. The hosts were also second in the latest D2CSC East Region poll, drawing one first-place vote, while Bentley was seventh.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (12-2, 8-0 NE10), Bentley (9-6, 4-4 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Jhamyl Fricas (Lawrence, Mass./Worcester Academy/Connors State), 22 points, 9-for-15 field goals, 4-for-6 three-pointers
• Junior CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 19 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 6-for-12 field goals, 5-for-8 three-pointers
• Sophomore Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass./Brooks School), 18 points, 8 assists, 2 steals
• Junior Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy), 8 rebounds
• First-year Sebastian Andersson (Stockholm, Sweden/Korrespondensgymnasiet/Eastern Washington), 5 rebounds, 4 offensive rebounds

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Cash McClure, 23 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 10-for-13 field goals
• Senior Zach Laput, 22 points, 4 assists
• Senior Aaron Latham, 12 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, 4-for-8 field goals
• Graduate student Kellan Bochenek, 6 assists

GAME FACTS

• Saint Michael's continued its best NE10 start since 2000-01 (10-0), using runs of 28-10 and 28-11 to overcome an early 27-9 deficit.
• The Purple Knights limited a Bentley team that entered the game first in the NCAA East Region in three-point percentage (39.7%), made threes per game (11.3) and threes attempted per game (28.4) to a 4-for-15 effort from deep, good for a 26.7% showing.
• The Purple and Gold held a 52-8 advantage in bench points.
• Saint Michael's shot 8-for-15 from three-point range in the second half and 11-for-29 for the game.
• The Purple Knights defeated Bentley at home for the first time since Dec. 6, 2014.

THE ACTION

• McClure scored six points during Bentley's 8-0 start, which ballooned to a 27-9 lead on sophomore Chase Clarke's dunk at 9:46 of the opening half.
• The Purple Knights countered with 28 of the next 38 points, as six players scored. Yepdo netted seven points in the last 3:56 of the opening half before dishing to Duniver for a buzzer-beating three that sent the hosts into the locker room down just 37-35. Yepdo's driving lay-up at 18:09 of the second stanza tied the teams at 37 to conclude the run.
• Bentley score the next four points and was still ahead 45-44 following Laput's jumper, but Saint Michael's countered with a 28-11 run that took exactly eight minutes to elapse. The Purple Knights hit 11-of-15 shots, including 6-of-8 from deep, as Fricas netted 12 points himself in the run. Crews added nine and Yepdo seven, as the trio combined for all 28 points, and the hosts led 72-56 on Fricas' jumper with 7:38 to go.
• Latham buried a three to make it 72-61 with 6:54 left before Fricas buried a long three at 3:32 for the game's next points, extending the Purple and Gold lead to 14.
• Three McClure baskets keyed an 11-3 run that brought Bentley within 78-72 with 15.9 seconds to go, but Crews knocked down a pair of free throws at 14.1 seconds, making it a three-possession game.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday at Assumption University, 3:30 p.m.