BARTLESVILLE, Okla. (12-1-09) – The Oklahoma Wesleyan University men’s basketball team remains No. 1 in the first regular season NAIA Division II Coaches’ Top 25 poll of 2009, released on Monday.
The Eagles, 9-0, attempt to break the Div. II record for consecutive wins at 28, when they face Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College at home Friday night. The team is also riding a 24-game win streak in the Mueller Sports Center. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m., with the women beginning at 5:30.
With one of the top offenses in the nation, and led by two All-Americans in Steve Briggs and Sadiel Rojas, the Eagles held off an early season scare by McPherson College (Kan.), only to take down the NAIA Div. I preseason No. 7 Rogers State University at home, 91-82.
The Eagles have three games remaining during the fall semester. Besides Friday’s contest with Hillsdale Baptist, the Wesleyan men travel to Waxahachie, Texas, to face Southwestern Assemblies of God on Dec. 15, followed by a match up with the 2009 NAIA Div. I National Champions Rocky Mountain College (Mont.) on the following Saturday in Billings.
Fellow members of the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference, Bellevue University (Neb.) and College of the Ozarks (Mo.), both highly rated in preseason, dropped out of the Top 25.