Mountaineers slide to No. 20 in NAIA Div. 2 Top 25
The Eastern Oregon University men's basketball team moved from No. 24 to No. 20 in Monday's NAIA Div. 2 Top 25 poll.
The Mountaineers (17-6) (10-3) knocked off No. 5 Warner Pacific College last Friday, 92-85, and beat Concordia, 83-72, the following night. EOU has won eight of their last 10 games, with its two losses coming to the nation's No. 9 and No. 3 team's on the road by a combined 13 points.
In that 10-game span Eastern climbed as high as No. 18, it's highest ranking of the season, and fluctuated from the No. 20 to 24 range.
The Mountaineers sit tied atop the conference standings with No. 3 Oregon Tech, but were rated third in weekly conference rating behind OIT and Warner Pacific.
Oregon Tech (21-4) (10-3) fell at un-ranked Northwest Christian Friday night in overtime and beat Corban College Saturday. The Hustlin' Owls remained the country's No. 3 team. Warner Pacific also split its weekend trip, losing at EOU and winning at The College of Idaho. The Knights (17-5) (9-3) moved from No. 5 to No. 7 in the national poll. The Evergreen State (16-6) (9-3) dropped from No. 20 to No. 25 after falling to Northwest in overtime.
Eastern Oregon received 11 votes in the preseason poll before moving up to No. 23 in the first rating. EOU rose all the way to No. 5 last season in the first poll of the season. Eastern finished in the national quarterfinals. On Jan. 9, 2008, the Mountaineers climbed to No. 3, the highest ranking in school history.