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Colin Scanlon is averaging 5.3 points and 4.3 rebounds for the Skyhawks. |
North Easton, Mass. - Stonehill faces its toughest test of the season on Saturday when it travels to Bentley to face the undefeated and No. 1 ranked Falcons in a key Northeast-10 matchup on Saturday in Waltham.
Stonehill will be playing their third game in a five day stretch when it takes the court with Bentley, while the Falcons, who defeated Bryant 64-45 on Tuesday, will have had three days off.
Sitting at 5-5 overall and 3-2 in the Northeast-10, the Skyhawks are looking to rebound from Thursday's 77-59 loss at St. Rose. Nick Smith (Colonia, N.J.) scored a game-high 23 points but the Golden Knights controlled the paint, outscoring Stonehill 36-18 inside and held the Skyhawks to a season-low 36 percent from the field.
Smith enjoyed personal success against the Falcons a season ago, scoring 23 in the first matchup and 17 in the second meeting. He is the Skyhawks leading scorer at 17.5 a game and is followed closely by Matt Hall (Springfield, Mass.) at 15.9. Freshman Vince Rosario (Perth Amboy, N.J.) (12.1 ppg) and sophomore A.J. Rudowitz (Monroe Township, N.J.) (11.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg) join them as other Skyhawks who average double figures.
Bentley, meanwhile, enters the meeting having won 12 straight against the Skyhawks, including last year's 61-58 win in Waltham. The Falcons overall regular winning streak stands at 34 after its win over the Bulldogs earlier this week. In that contest junior Lew Finnegan had 14 points in the first half as the Falcons held the Bulldogs to 27 percent shooting.
Finnegan leads a trio of Bentley scorers in double figures with a 13.3 average. He is followed by sixth man Nate Fritsch, who nets 13.1 a night and sophomore Jason Westrol's 12.6 points and 6.1 rebounds.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday, February 9th in Easton.
