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Lights nationally ranked in hoops

Lights host MSU-Billings in a historic home game Friday night

Once again, the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team is in the national spotlight. For the third straight season, the Lights begin a new year ranked inside the NAIA Coaches Preseason Poll.

The poll, which was released on Tuesday, has Northern ranked 24th. The Lights are already off to a 5-0 start this season, and have a home game with NCAA Division II Montana State-Billings coming up on Friday night.

After falling in the first round of the 2013 NAIA national tournament last March, the Lights finished the season ranked No. 26, just outside the coaches poll. However, the postseason coaches poll was the only poll during the 2012-13 season that the Lights weren't inside the Top 25, and they rose as high as No. 9 during last year's campaign.

Northern is one of three Frontier teams to be ranked. The UM-Western Bulldogs are ranked No. 8 in the preseason poll, while defending Frontier champion Rocky Mountain College comes in at No. 17.

In the NAIA Women's Preseason Coaches Poll, five-time defending Frontier champion Westminster College is ranked No. 5, while Carroll College is ranked No. 18. Both teams were NAIA national tourney teams a season ago.

NAIA Men's Preseason Poll

Rnk. Prv. 2012-13 Rec. Pts.

1 1 Georgetown (Ky.) (9) 28-8 250

T2 4 LSU Shreveport (La.) (1) 27-7 233

T2 11 Oklahoma Baptist 25-8 233

4 5 Columbia (Mo.) 35-1 225

5 2 SAGU (Texas) 33-5 217

6 20 Concordia (Calif.) 23-11 206

7 15 Pikeville (Ky.) 26-7 205

8 6 Montana Western 24-10 196

9 9 Evangel (Mo.) 26-7 187

T10 3 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 32-5 169

T10 21 William Carey (Miss.) 25-6 169

12 T17 Cal State San Marcos 23-7 164

13 14 Faulkner (Ala.) 29-6 144

14 7 John Brown (Ark.) 28-7 142

15 13 MidAmerica Nazarene 26-10 137

16 RV Arizona Christian 20-10 133

17 RV Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 21-13 121

18 10 Culver-Stockton (Mo.) 26-9 108

19 24 Xavier (La.) 24-8 105

20 25 Emmanuel (Ga.) 28-5 99

21 NR Park (Mo.) 21-9 75

22 16 Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 21-10 70

23 RV Life (Ga.) 19-13 63

T24 NR Our Lady of the Lake 18-13 57

T24 RV Montana State-Northern 23-10 57

Others receiving votes: Campbellsville (Ky.) 53; Vanguard (Calif.) 48; Oklahoma City 32; Southern-New Orleans (La.) 22; St. Thomas (Texas) 22; Cumberlands (Ky.) 11; West Virginia Tech 7; Benedictine (Kan.) 5; Biola (Calif.) 5.

NAIA Women's Preseason Poll

Rnk. Prv. 2012-13 Rec. Pts.

1 8 Vanguard (Calif.) (4) 26-4 243

2 5 Oklahoma City (3) 28-4 238

3 1 Westmont (Calif.) 30-4 231

4 13 Georgetown (Ky.) (1) 23-10 223

5 7 Westminster (Utah) 29-4 222

6 3 Freed-Hardeman (2) 34-2 217

7 4 Cumberland (Tenn.) 33-3 205

8 9 MidAmerica Nazarene 30-3 194

9 10 Campbellsville (Ky.) 25-10 186

10 12 The Master's (Calif.) 25-6 181

11 15 Shawnee State (Ohio) 24-10 167

12 11 Benedictine (Kan.) 28-6 164

13 16 Columbia (Mo.) 27-7 154

14 18 Faulkner (Ala.) 26-7 146

15 17 Xavier (La.) 24-6 141

16 24 Bethel (Tenn.) 21-11 124

17 23 Our Lady of the Lake 30-4 110

18 21 Carroll (Mont.) 21-10 109

19 22 William Woods (Mo.) 26-7 106

20 25 Southern Poly (Ga.) 25-6 95

21 RV Cumberlands (Ky.) 18-13 92

22 19 Wiley (Texas) 29-4 81

23 NR Oklahoma Baptist 14-14 71

24 20 Lyon (Ark.) 28-5 68

25 RV LSU Shreveport (La.) 25-6 53

Others receiving votes: Central Methodist (Mo.) 42; San Diego Christian (Calif.) 35; Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) 31; Talladega (Ala.) 29; Biola (Calif.) 21; John Brown (Ark.) 20; Baker (Kan.) 6; Southern New Orleans (La.) 5; Texas Wesleyan 3; Coastal Georgia 3.

 

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