| 6 weeks 1 day 55 min ago Bentley Falcons advance to final four
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SPRINGFIED, MASS. (AP) - In the final minutes of Bentley
College's 102-92 men's basketball victory over North Alabama
Wednesday, its fans began chanting "We want Winona!"
The Falcons gave them their wish.
A year after losing to Winona State of Minnesota in the NCAA
Division II quarterfinal, Bentley advanced to a rematch in this
year's semifinal, ousting North Alabama behind sophomore Jason
Westrol's career-high 26 points.
"We were tentative last year against Winona," Westrol said
after Bentley (34-0), which shared the No. 1 ranking with Grand
Valley State of Allendale, Mich., in the final national poll,
protected the nation's only unbeaten Division II record.
The Falcons will play Winona State (36-1) in Thursday's
semifinal. The other semifinal matches Alaska-Anchorage (29-5) and
Augusta State of Georgia (26-6).
The winners play Saturday for the NCAA Division II title.
"Last year was our first experience here, but this year, coach
told us to just be ourselves," said the 6-foot-3
Westrol, who hit 9 of 12 shots Thursday.
"We know Winona is a good team," said Bentley point guard
Yusuf Abdul-Ali, who scored 15 points with 8 assists in return to
his hometown of Springfield. "We know we'll have a hard task to
beat them."
Winona State (36-1), the NCAA champion in 2006 and a finalist
last year, eliminated previously unbeaten Grand Valley
67-54
Wednesday.
Westrol led six double-figure scorers for Bentley, which lost
64-51 to Winona in last year's quarterfinal. The Falcons took an
unbeaten record into that game, too, and so did Winona, which lost
to Barton (N.C.) in the final.
"We didn't play well here last year. Winona State had a lot to
do with that," Lawson said. "This time, you could tell we were
different. We were relaxed. We were our normal self."
Lew Finnegan had 19 points with 8 rebounds for Bentley, which
shot 57.7 percent in the second half and 54.8 percent for the game.
Trailing 21-19 after 10 minutes, the Falcons went on a 22-8 run,
and led 48-36 at halftime.
The lead grew to 19 in the second half, before North Alabama
(27-9) made a late comeback bid. Quinn Beckwith's 3-point basket
cut Bentley's lead to 86-78 with 3:22 left.
Finnegan answered with a layup, though, and Mike Quinn scored on
a fast-break layup to restore Bentley's lead to 12.
For the school in Waltham, Mass., Wednesday's 34th straight
victory extends its all-time record for consecutive wins by a New
England team of any division in one season.
"We'll take a 10-point victory whether it's 102-92 or 61-51,"
Lawson said. "The tempo dictates the score, and we shoot
aggressively. We have no plays. The beginning of a play is a
high-ball screen by our biggest player, and then it's free-flow
basketball."
Center Thomas Fraise led North Alabama with 25 points, and Kenny
Johnson had 18. Fraise hit 11 of 18 shots and also had six
rebounds.
Casey Holt (15), Beckwith (13) and Andrew Chesney (11) were also
in double figures for the Lions, who shot 48.7 percent and owned a
36-35 rebounding edge.
They only took nine free throws, making seven.
"Part of it was that we took too many 3's," North Alabama
coach Bobby Champagne said. "But part of it was not being as
aggressive as we had been. We made more free throws this year than
our opponents attempted, but our inability to get to the line hurt
us tonight."
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
