COLCHESTER, Vt. - The longest regular season winning streak in NCAA Division II men's basketball history now belongs to the Bentley Falcons.
Freshman guard Tom Dowling (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side HS) tied his career scoring best with 17 points and grabbed a career best 12 rebounds for his first career double-double as Bentley won its 53rd straight regular season game, 85-65 over St. Michael's College in Northeast-10 Conference play Saturday afternoon at the Ross Sports Center.
Bentley, the number one ranked team in Division II for nearly three months, took possession of the record that Langston University (Olka.), which featured former Harlem Globetrotter Marcus Haynes, had owned for the past 63 years. The Falcons have not lost a regular season game since falling to Bryant in double-overtime Feb. 18, 2006, two years and five days ago.
Coach Jay Lawson's team, 26-0 overall and 21-0 in the NE-10, also moved within one game of another major accomplishment, a second straight unblemished regular season. The Falcons play their final game before the postseason on Tuesday, a home game with Southern Connecticut State.
After a 19-4 run had produced a 33-15 advantage with 4:38 left in the first half, it appeared that the Falcons might cruise to the milestone victory. However, guard James Sorrentine (Pawtucket, R.I.) and his St. Michael's teammates had other ideas. Nine points in a minute by guard, including a rare four-point play, cut the deficit in half and Bentley eventually took a 12-point bulge into the halftime break, 43-31.
Sorrentine hit two more triples in the opening minutes of the second, and following a short jumper by junior forward Jon Zylstra (Uxbridge, Mass.), the lead was down to five, 50-45, with 13:42 left.
It would be more than four minutes before St. Michael's (7-18, 5-16 NE-10) scored again, and by then, the Falcons had run off 13 unanswered points to restore the lead to 18, 63-45. Typical of the balance Bentley traditionally displays, six different players contributed points during the stretch.
The decisive run started with a baseline jumper by junior post Mike Sikonski (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Reg. HS). Senior guard Yusuf Abdul-Ali (Springfield, Mass./New Leadership Charter School) dropped in a three, senior forward Nate Fritsch (Durham, N.C./Woodberry Forest) banked in a jumper, Dowling made a couple free throws, and both sophomore guard Jason Westrol (Brielle, N.J./Manasquan HS) and junior guard Lew Finnegan (Lexington, Mass./Lexington HS) capped the runs with lay-ups.
Dowling made four of five field goal attempts and nailed nine of ten free throws en route to his team-best 17 points. His 12 boards, all but one at the defensive end, helped the Falcons outrebound the Purple Knights, 43-27.
Also scoring in doubles for the Falcons were Abdul-Ali (16 points, four assists, four rebounds), Westrol (11 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and Finnegan (10 points, five rebounds). Fritsch and Sikonski each added nine points, combining to make 8 of 11 shots.
Sorrentine buried six three-pointers and led all scorers with 23 points. Forward Brian Monahan (Kinderhook, N.Y.) followed with 17 points as the two seniors combined for 40 of St. Michael's 65 points.
Bentley, which shot 59 percent in the first half, finished at an even .500 while limiting the Knights to .357, including just 10 of 31 on two-point attempts.
