Things didn’t go the way the Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team was hoping they would last Saturday night in Salt Lake City. But a difficult loss at Westminster College did little to damage the Lights’ ranking among the NAIA’s best.
Northern fell just two spots in the new NAIA Coaches Poll, released Tuesday afternoon, as the Lights moved down from No. 10 to No. 12. A road split last weekend left the Lights with a 16-3 overall record and tied for first in the Frontier Conference at 4-1.
The team Northern is tied with, Lewis-Clark State also didn’t suffer in the polls, even with a loss last Saturday to Rocky Mountain College. At 18-1 overall, the Warriors remained the No. 3 team in the NAIA this week. That means Saturday night in Havre will pit two NAIA and Frontier Conference powers head-to-head when the Lights host the Warriors.
The Frontier is getting plenty of respect this season in the polls. Westminster lost to UGF last Thursday night, but with a win over Northern, the Griffins slipped just one spot in the polls, down from No. 17 to No. 18 this week.
On the women’s side, only Westminster remains ranked. The Griffins are No. 5 in this week’s women’s poll. Carroll College is just outside the Top 25.
In other Frontier news, former Havre Blue Pony Myles Mazurkiewicz was named the Frontier Conference Wrestler of the Week for the second time this season. Mazurkiewicz, a senior at UGF who’s ranked No. 1 in the NAIA at 141 pounds, was undefeated at last weekend’s NAIA National Duals and along the way, he became the all-time wins leader in UGF wrestling history.
UGF’s Marcel Towns was named Frontier Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. Towns scored a UGF single-game record 43 points in last Thursday’s win at Westminster. For the weekend, Towns averaged 29 points per game and was also named NAIA Player of the Week. On the women’s side, Sammi Bignell of UM-Western was named player of the week. Bignell averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds in wins over Northern and UGF last weekend, and she scored a career-high 34 in last Saturday’s win over the Argos.
Northern’s Devin Jackson and Nikki Tresch were nominated for player of the week honors.
NAIA Men’s Coaches Poll
Rnk. Prv. Rec. Pts.
1 2 Columbia (Mo.) (11) 17-0 281
2 5 Pikeville (Ky.) 17-1 271
3 3 Lewis-Clark State 18-1 256
4 6 William Carey (Miss.) 15-2 254
5 4 Oklahoma Baptist 15-3 252
6 7 Lee (Tenn.) 15-1 232
7 8 Westmont (Calif.) 14-3 222
T8 10 Cal State San Marcos 15-4 209
T8 14 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 16-2 209
10 25 John Brown (Ark.) 15-3 188
11 13 Evangel (Mo.) 13-4 187
12 10 MSU-Northern 16-3 181
13 16 Xavier (La.) 15-3 173
14 1 Cumberlands (Ky.) 15-3 168
15 17 Bethel (Tenn.) 17-2 166
16 RV Hope International 17-1 145
17 21 SAGU (Texas) 14-3 142
18 20 Emmanuel (Ga.) 16-2 121
19 18 Westminster (Utah) 14-4 120
20 19 Rogers State (Okla.) 13-5 119
21 23 Faulkner (Ala.) 16-3 82
22 RV Philander Smith (Ark.) 12-4 78
23 9 Science & Arts (Okla.) 8-4 77
24 10 Texas College 13-4 76
25 RV MidAmerica Nazarene 14-5 74
Others receiving votes: Arizona Christian 60; Concordia (Calif.) 34; Texas Wesleyan 31; Southern-New Orleans (La.) 28; Oklahoma City 18; Culver-Stockton (Mo.) 13; Shawnee State (Ohio) 9; LSU Shreveport (La.) 7; Mid-Continent (Ky.) 3.
NAIA Women’s Coaches Poll
Rnk. Prv. Rec. Pts.
1 2 Vanguard (Calif.) (11) 11-0 281
2 1 Lubbock Christian 17-1 271
3 3 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 17-1 261
4 6 Oklahoma City 12-2 250
5 4 Westminster (Utah) 16-2 249
6 5 Lee (Tenn.) 15-1 237
7 7 Cumberland (Tenn.) 16-1 224
8 8 The Master’s (Calif.) 15-0 221
9 10 Campbellsville (Ky.) 14-3 208
10 11 MidAmerica Nazarene 16-2 197
11 12 Westmont (Calif.) 11-3 192
12 9 Xavier (La.) 12-3 184
T13 14 Bethel (Tenn.) 14-4 169
T13 15 Rogers State (Okla.) 14-4 169
15 19 Lyon (Ark.) 14-2 150
16 23 Georgetown (Ky.) 11-6 140
17 21 Benedictine (Kan.) 15-3 120
18 20 Wiley (Texas) 15-1 118
19 16 William Woods (Mo.) 12-2 117
20 13 Shawnee State (Ohio) 14-5 116
21 18 Auburn Montgomery 13-4 100
22 17 Central Methodist (Mo.) 16-2 94
23 24 Our Lady of the Lake 16-1 86
24 22 Faulkner (Ala.) 16-4 82
25 RV St. Catharine (Ky.) 11-4 69
Others receiving votes: Carroll (Mont.) 52; LSU Shreveport (La.) 46; Columbia (Mo.) 32; Cumberlands (Ky.) 25; Coastal Georgia 11; Robert Morris (Ill.) 6; Biola (Calif.) 5; Southern-New Orleans (La.) 3.
