KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The West Liberty University men’s basketball team continued its rise through the national rankings on Tuesday by jumping up to the No. 4 spot when the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) released its weekly NCAA Division II Top 25 poll.
That’s a move of three spots for Coach Jim Crutchfield’s Hilltoppers (12-1), who were No. 7 last week but posted a pair of convincing wins to keep moving up.
West Liberty – which leads the nation in scoring – downed Ohio County rival Wheeling Jesuit, 93-72, on Wednesday night before wrapping up the week with a 97-69 win over Glenville State in a Saturday afternoon road game.
Lincoln Memorial, Tenn. (14-0) is the new No. 1 team in this week’s balloting while perennial power Kentucky Wesleyan (12-0) moved up to No. 2. Defending national champion Bellarmine, Ky. (11-1) squeezed ahead of West Liberty for the No. 3 spot with Metropolitan State, Colo. (13-1) dropping all the way from No. 1 to No. 5 after suffering its first loss of the season.
This marks the 30th consecutive week the Hilltoppers have been ranked in the NABC Top 25, the longest run by a WVIAC program since Salem was ranked for an NCAA Division II record 76 straight weeks from 1997 to 2003. Charleston was the only other WVIAC team receiving votes this week but the Golden Eagles fell short of the Top 25.
Click here for the entire poll.
(Courtesy of West Liberty sports information).
Article Source: http://wviac.org/news/2012/1/10/MBB_0110124402.aspx