Senior G Dipanjot Singh (Evanston, Ill.) scored a career-high 27 points on Senior Night to lead UMass Lowell over Bentley, 85-76, Tuesday night in the Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball finale at the Costello Athletic Center.

The win halted a four-game slide for UMass Lowell, which improved to 17-9 overall and 13-9 in the Conference. The River Hawks solidified the No. 4 seed for the NE-10 Tournament and will host No. 5 Southern Connecticut (14-12 overall, 12-0 NE-10) Sunday at 1:00.

Southern Connecticut stunned No. 2 Adelphi, 76-65, to give Franklin Pierce the No. 1 seed.

Bentley, which suffered its sixth straight loss, slipped to 15-11 overall and 11-11 in the NE-10 and drew the No. 8 seed. The Falcons will host No. 9 Assumption Friday in the first round at 7:00.

UMass Lowell's seniors - Singh, Robbie Walton (South Boston, Mass.), John Corbacio (Stoney Creek, Ontario) and Heman Honore (Medford, Mass.) - were honored in a ceremony before tipoff.

"It was an old-school win spearheaded by our entire senior class," said head coach Greg Herenda. "Dipanjot got us going offensively and Robbie Walton was just omnipresent all night long.

"We beat a Bentley team tonight that had it going on all cylinders ofensively," he added. "We were able to guard them in the second half and we finished the job down the stretch."

Singh converted 9 of 16 field goal attempts, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range, and all five free throws. Sophomore F Antonio Bivins (Miami, Fla.) added 16 points and six rebounds while shooting 5-8 from the field in 21 minutes off the bench.

Sophomore G Akeem Williams (Brockton, Mass.) also scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds while Walton chipped in 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals while shooting 5-8 from the field.

Sophomore G Jasper Grassa led Bentley with 21 points on 7-14 FG shooting (5-9 from 3-point range) while senior G Sam Leclerc added 14 points (5-10 FG shooting).

UMass Lowell trailed at the break, but shot .533 in the second half (16-30) while Bentley struggled to a .355 clip (11-31). The River Hawks also outscored the Falcons in the paint, 26-16, at the free throw line (17-11) and had slight advantages in points off turnovers (21-16) and second chances (9-4).

With the score knotted 55-55, UMass Lowell went on a 10-1 run behind a pair of layups by Walton, a jumper by sophomore G Scotty Tavares-Taylor (Roxbury, Mass.) and a conventional 2-point play by Singh.

Grassa countered with a 3-point shot to cut the lead to 65-59 with 6:41 left, but UMass Lowell never let the Falcons within seven points thereafter.

"To secure the No. 4 seed and to play at home Sunday is key," Herenda noted. "Hopefully this win will jumpstart us going into postseason play."