Even with last Saturday’s 116-89 thumping of Roanoke, the Runnin Royals held at No. 18 in this week’s D3hoops.com national poll. Only five teams in the top 25 lost since the previous poll, leaving few changes in the week nine list as Eastern Mennonite remained at its lowest rank of the season.
EMU is 14-4 overall and 5-4 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The men had a showdown with then-No. 7 Virginia Wesleyan postponed from last Wednesday to Feb. 14 because of snow.
The Marlins edged back up one spot to No. 6 this week, aided by Middlebury taking its first loss and falling four spots to No. 8. The top three in the nation held their spots with No. 1 Wooster being followed by Whitworth and Augustana.
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Williams and Amherst round out the top five, followed by VWC, St. Thomas and Middlebury. UW-River Falls and UW-Stevens Point are No. 9 and No. 10. ODAC-rival Randolph-Macon fell two spots to No. 11 after losing 62-61 Saturday at Guilford.
A fourth ODAC school, Randolph, continued to get a single vote but miss out on the top 25.
The Runnin Royals are at Lynchburg this Wednesday before hosting Randolph Saturday night as part of a men’s/women’s doubleheader in Yoder Arena. The EMU women host Roanoke at 4 p.m. before the men lock up with the WildCats at 7 p.m. Randolph beat EMU 64-61 on Jan. 22 in Lynchburg.