PURCHASE, N.Y. – On the strength of the best start to a season in program history, the Manhattanville men's basketball team added another first to its resume by earning the first-ever national ranking in program history on Tuesday, as the Valiants are ranked 25th in Division III in the latest D3Hoops.com Division III National Poll.
The Valiants accumulated 41 points to earn the 25th spot in the national poll, which was based on games through January 2. The ranking is the culmination of a five-week rise up the charts, as Manhattanville received two votes in the first D3Hoops.com poll of the season on November 30 and has increased its vote total in every subsequent poll.
Manhattanville brought a program-best 10-1 record into last night's championship game of the Greyhound Starters Classic against host Moravian College, marking the best 10- and 11-game starts to a year all-time at the school.
The Valiants also put together a seven-game winning streak to conclude the start, the fifth-longest winning streak in school history and the longest since 2006-07. Included in that stretch was a win over then-#24 DeSales University, the second victory over a nationally ranked team in recent program history.
As a team, Manhattanville is the only Freedom Conference team to receiving a vote in this week's poll and are just one of three squads from the Mid-Atlantic Region to be nationally ranked this week. The squad is led by junior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline), who averages a team-best 17.5 points per game so far, while senior Peter Mehmel (Queens, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) is enjoying a resurgent final season with 11.1 points and a team-leading 5.3 rebounds per contest while connecting on 61.5 percent of his shots from the floor.
The Valiants (10-2, 2-0 Freedom) will have a few days off to enjoy the achievement before getting back to work on Saturday afternoon, when the squad restarts the all-important Freedom Conference schedule at Wilkes University. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Complete D3Hoops Poll
