Midland Sits Atop NJCAA DI Men's Basketball Poll for Eighth Straight Week

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -Midland College (Texas) is again the No. 1 ranked team in NJCAA Men's Division I Basketball, according to the latest poll released today (Feb. 2). The Chaparrals have now owned the top spot in the poll for eight consecutive weeks and were also again unanimously voted No. 1, receiving all possible 320 poll points and all 16 first place votes.

Connors State College (Okla.) moves up to No. 2 this week in front of Harcum College (Pa.) while North Idaho College and Wallace State Community College - Hanceville (Ala.) round out the top five.

Northwest Florida State College, previously ranked second, falls to No. 7 following their 76-73 loss to then 14^th-ranked Tallahassee (Fla.) on Jan. 30.

Midland won its 11^th game over a ranked opponent last night when they defeated last week's No. 10 Odessa (Texas) 80-69 thanks to a brilliant performance by Darrell Williams. The Chicago, Ill., native scored 25 points to go with 18 rebounds to lead the Chaps. Williams also posted a double-double of 24 points and 19 boards in MC's 79-66 win over Western Texas on Jan. 28.

For the season Williams is averaging 13.8 points and 9.9 rebounds a contest.

Midland next hosts Frank Phillips College (Texas) on Feb. 4.

Connors State had two games cancelled this week due to hazardous weather. They got back on the court last night and defeated Murray State (Okla.) 90-81 on the road in overtime to improve to 18-1 on the season. The win marked CSC's head coach Bill Muse's 400^th career victory. CJ Washington led the Cowboys with 27 points.

The Cowboys next travel to Carl Albert College (Okla.) on Feb. 4.

Harcum stays at No. 3 this week after defeating Burlington County (N.J.) 91-62 on Jan. 28 and Essex (N.J.) 111-80 on Jan. 30 to move to 21-0 on the season. The win over Burlington County was the first for the Bears this season without scoring at least 100 points. Antonio Bumpus led Harcum in both games with 30 and 23 points.

With 21 victories on the year Harcum has tied a school record for most wins in a season and has now reached the 20 win plateau for the fifth-straight year. The Bears next face Mercer County (N.J.) on Feb. 6.

NOTES: The last time a team held the No. 1 spot in the DI poll for eight weeks was last year when Chipola (Fla.) held the top ranking for nine consecutive weeks...Prior to this season, Midland last held the No. 1 ranking in the pre-season poll for 2006-07...Indian Hills (Iowa), Hinds (Miss.) and Moberly Area (Mo.) all fall to the 'others receiving votes' category this week...Seward County (Kan.) and Casper (Wyo) fall out of the