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South Easton, Mass. – The Northeast-10 took up seven of the ten spots in the first edition of the NCAA Division II men’s basketball regional rankings as released by the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Committee.

Bentley University, ranked 12th in the recent NABC Division II National Top-25 poll, led the way as the top ranked team in the East region and is followed in order by five other Northeast-10 institutions including Stonehill College, Merrimack College, Adelphi University, the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Saint Anselm College. Southern New Hampshire University rounds out the seven NE-10 schools ranked at number nine.

The rest of the poll fills out with three institutions from the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) with Bloomfield College ranked seventh followed by Philadelphia University and Felician College in the eighth and tenth spot respectively.

Bentley (17-2, 12-2 NE-10) has won 12 straight contests and is currently tied for first place in the Northeast-10 with Stonehill. Coincidentally, the Falcons last loss was against the Skyhawks back in early December. On Tuesday night, Bentley recorded its 17th win of the year with an 88-67 victory over Saint Rose. Junior Brian Tracey (Bow Mar, Colo.) led the offensive attack with a game-high 24 points, while shooting 8-of-12 from the field. Tracey also added eight rebounds and dished out three assists. Senior Jason Westrol (Brielle, N.J.) added 17 points to go along with five boards. Westrol leads the team and is ranked third in the Northeast-10 in scoring with 19.8 points per game. He is also ranked fifth in assists with 4.32 per contest. Bentley will look to extend its winning streak to 13 games as they travel south to face Pace University for a 3:30 tip-off on Saturday.

Stonehill (15-4, 12-2 NE-10), as previously mentioned, is tied for first place in the NE-10 with Bentley as the Skyhawks will look to rebound after their home loss to Le Moyne on Tuesday night. The setback ended a six game winning streak. Senior Randall Stallworth (Toms River, N.J.) finished with a team-high 19 points as he shot 8-of-17 from the field. He also dished out five assists. Stallworth is second on the team in scoring as he is currently averaging 12.7 points per game and is ranked fourth in the Northeast-10 in assists with 4.37. Fellow classmate A.J. Rudowitz (Monroe Township, N.J.) leads the team in scoring and is among the conference leaders with 15.5 points per game. Rudowitz is also the team leader with 7.9 rebounds and 29 total blocks. Stonehill will look to start a new win streak on Saturday as the team heads to Albany, N.Y. for a 3:30 p.m. match up with Saint Rose.

Merrimack (13-4, 11-3 NE-10), winners of 12-of-13 games, is coming off a victory over Southern Connecticut Tuesday night. Senior Darren Duncan (Briarwood, N.Y.) led the Warriors with a game-high 25 points and dished out five assists, while Roland Davis (Deer Park, N.Y.) added 19 points. Duncan leads the team and is ranked fifth in the conference in scoring with 19.1 points per game. He also leads the NE-10 in assists with 7.35 per game and recently moved up to number two all-time in the Northeast-10 with 746 career assists. Junior Darin Mency (Hagerstown, Md.) is averaging 18.0 points per game and is one point away from 1,300 career points (1,299). Merrimack will look to keep pace with Bentley and Stonehill as the team travels to the University of New Haven on Saturday for a 4 p.m. match up with the Chargers.

Adelphi (14-7, 7-7 NE-10) is coming off a heartbreaking loss to Franklin Pierce as the Panthers fell short 74-73 in overtime on Tuesday night. Junior Richard Byrd (Central Islip, N.Y.) scored a game-high 21 points for the Panthers, while senior Casey Cosgrove (Andover, Mass.) added 12 more to go along with four assists. Byrd is leading the team and is ranked sixth in the conference in scoring with 18.7 points per game. Cosgrove is picking up 12.3 points per game and is dishing out a team-best 5.3 assists per game. He is also ranked second in the NE-10 in assists trailing only Duncan of Merrimack. Adelphi will look to end its six game losing streak when they host Saint Michael’s College on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. contest.

UMass Lowell (12-7, 9-5 NE-10) is coming off back-to-back losses after falling short against Pace on Tuesday night, 72-67. The Northeast-10’s leading scorer in sophomore Kyle Caiola (Parma, Ohio) led the River Hawks with a team-high 21 points, while Kevin Carr (Lancaster, Ohio) added 12 points in the lose to Pace. Caiola is averaging a team-best 22.0 points per game, while shooting .480 percent on the year. Carr is tossing in 10.7 points per game along with grabbing 2.4 rebounds. Next up for UMass Lowell is a trip to Connecticut as the River Hawks face Southern Connecticut on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. match up.

Saint Anselm (12-7, 8-6 NE-10) had won its previous five contests prior to its loss to Assumption on Tuesday night. The Greyhounds defeated the Hawks, 75-63, to snap their five-game winning streak. Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) finished with a team-high 21 points versus Assumption. Baudinet is the team’s top scorer as he is averaging 19.3 points per game ranking him fourth among the conference leaders. He is also averaging 5.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Senior Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.) is scoring 15.0 points per game, while junior Pat Luptowski (Keene, N.H.) is adding 10.1 points per contest. Saint Anselm will look to start a new winning streak on Saturday as the team heads to Springfield, Mass. to face American International College for a 3:30 tip-off.

Southern New Hampshire (12-7, 7-7 NE-10) has won five of its last six games including a three game stretch capped off by a win against New Haven on Tuesday night. The Penmen were led by their top scorers in sophomore Josh Morgan-Green (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and junior Tory Stapleton (Rahway, N.J.) who both scored a team-high 19 points in the win over the Chargers. Stapleton leads the team in scoring with 12.5 points and is also the team leader with 7.4 rebounds per game. Morgan-Green is scoring 10.2 points per game, while senior Stephen Wood (South Jamaica Queens, N.Y.) is adding 9.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest. Southern New Hampshire will look to extend its win streak to four games when they travel to Worcester, Mass. for a 3:30 p.m. contest versus Assumption on Saturday.

With 16 member institutions the Northeast-10 shares the distinction of being the largest Division II conference in the country along with the PSAC and WVIAC. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.

-NE-10-

NCAA Division II East Region Rankings Week 1

1. Bentley
2. Stonehill
3. Merrimack
4. Adelphi
5. UMass Lowell
6. Saint Anselm
7. Bloomfield
8. Philadelphia
9. Southern New Hampshire
10. Felician