Despite a difficult home loss to the UM-Western Bulldogs last Thursday night, the Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team held steady in the newest NAIA Men’s Coaches Poll.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, the Lights are ranked No. 13, as they dropped just one spot after splitting with Western and Westminster this past weekend. Northern needs to remain in the NAIA Top 25 for the final two polls in order to be considered an at-large team to the NAIA national tournament, if the Lights weren’t to earn the Frontier Conference’s automatic bid, which will be settled in two week’s time.
League leading Lewis-Clark State remained at No. 5 in this week’s poll, while UM-Western moved all the way from receiving votes, to the No. 22 ranking. Westminster dropped all the way from No. 18 to out of the Top 25.
On the women’s side, the Westminster women moved up to No. 3 this week, and have already clinched the Frontier’s regular season title. Carroll dropped out of the Top 25.
Western’s Jake Owsley was named Frontier Conference Men’s Player of the Week, while UGF’s Erin Legel was named Frontier Women’s Player of the Week for the second week in a row.
NAIA Men’s Poll
Rnk. Prv. Rec. Pts.
1 1 Columbia (Mo.) (11) 28-0 281
2 2 Lee (Tenn.) 25-1 272
3 4 John Brown (Ark.) 24-4 258
4 3 Lindsey Wilson 24-3 249
5 5 Lewis-Clark St. 25-3 248
6 7 Cal State San Marc. 22-4 241
7 8 SAGU (Texas) 24-3 225
8 6 Westmont (Calif.) 23-5 216
9 10 Oklahoma Baptist 22-6 206
10 11 Evangel (Mo.) 21-5 195
11 19 William Carey 22-4 189
12 17 Pikeville (Ky.) 21-5 170
T13 12 MSU-Northern 22-6 167
T13 13 Georgetown (Ky.) 20-6 167
15 16 Bethel (Tenn.) 24-4 156
16 14 Xavier (La.) 22-6 151
17 15 Emmanuel (Ga.) 25-3 150
18 21 Hope International 23-5 126
19 20 LSU Shreveport 19-5 103
20 22 MidAmerica Naza. 21-7 101
21 9 Faulkner (Ala.) 23-5 99
22 RV UM-Western 19-8 87
23 RV Philander Smith 19-8 75
24 RV Martin Methodist 17-9 68
25 T23 Culver-Stockton 21-7 65
Others receiving votes: Arizona Christian 56; St. Thomas (Texas) 38; Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 38; Rogers State (Okla.) 20; Park (Mo.) 20; Shawnee State (Ohio) 14; Westminster (Utah) 12; Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 4; West Virginia Tech 4; Texas College 3; Campbellsville (Ky.) 3.
NAIA Women’s Poll
Rnk. Prv. Rec. Pts.
1 1 Freed-Hardeman 26-1 277
2 2 Oklahoma City (5) 22-2 276
3 4 Westminster 24-2 263
4 6 Westmont (Calif.) 22-3 252
5 3 Lubbock Christian 24-3 246
6 5 Cumberland 25-2 229
T7 T7 Lee (Tenn.) 24-2 226
T7 T7 Vanguard (Calif.) 20-2 226
9 9 MidAmerica Naz. 25-2 210
10 10 Xavier (La.) 22-4 200
11 11 The Master’s 23-4 187
12 13 Benedictine (Kan.) 24-4 180
13 12 Rogers State 21-7 173
14 14 Shawnee State 20-7 165
15 15 Columbia (Mo.) 22-6 151
16 18 Campbellsville 20-7 146
17 20 Lyon (Ark.) 25-3 132
18 19 Georgetown (Ky.) 18-8 130
19 16 Faulkner (Ala.) 23-5 120
20 21 Wiley (Texas) 22-3 115
21 22 Our Lady of Lake 26-2 103
22 23 William Woods) 22-4 82
23 17 Bethel (Tenn.) 18-9 76
24 24 Southern Poly 22-3 72
25 RV LSU Shreveport 20-4 54
Others receiving votes: Carroll (Mont.) 49; St. Catharine (Ky.) 48; Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) 47; Baker (Kan.) 28; Cumberlands (Ky.) 14; Central Methodist (Mo.) 6; Talladega (Ala.) 5; Coastal Georgia 5; San Diego Christian (Calif.) 3.
Frontier Conference
Men’s Standings
Conf. All
W-L W-L
Lewis-Clark State 10-3 25-3
MSU-Northern 10-4 22-6
UM-Western 9-5 19-8
Great Falls 8-6 17-11
Westminster 7-6 20-7
Rocky Mountain 7-7 16-12
Montana Tech 6-8 15-13
Dickinson State 3-9 10-18
Carroll 1-13 2-23
Frontier Conference
Women’s Standings
Conf. All
W-L W-L
Westminster 13-0 24-2
Carroll 11-3 17-8
Montana Tech 9-5 16-10
MSU-Northern 7-7 15-11
Lewis-Clark State 5-8 8-19
UM-Western 5-9 13-15
Rocky Mountain 5-9 8-16
Great Falls 4-10 14-14
Dickinson State 2-10 7-19
