BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Freed-Hardeman Lions have climbed two spots to third while the Cumberlands (Ky.) Patriots crack the top ten in the second regular-season NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25, the national office announced Wednesday.

The Lions have played five contests since the last release of the NAIA Coaches' Poll and have rattled off five straight wins by an average of 31.2 points, including two wins over (RV) LSU Alexandria.

The #9 Cumberlands Patriots continued their movement up the rankings, sliding up three spots since the prior poll. They are undefeated with a 9-0 record and their defense has held opposing teams to less than 42% shooting from the field.

Georgetown (Ky.) reclaimed four of their spots, rebounding from a top-three tumble with five straight wins, including their own marked win over (RV) LSU Alexandria in overtime.

Grace (Ind.) claimed #1 with their eight first-place votes and 498 voting points. There has been a different team at the top spot with each rating released this season thus far. Arizona Christian stood second, although again they accumulatedthe most first-place votes (nine) with 483 points. Montana Tech and Langston (Okla.) both broke into the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively.

The third regular-season poll is set to be released Wednesday, December 17.

Poll Methodology

• The national poll is for publicity purposes only and does not influence the selection process for national championship consideration.
• A panel of head coaches representing each conference and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) votes in the poll.
• The Top 25 teams are selected using a points-based system: 
  • 30 points for a 1st-place vote, 29 for 2nd, 28 for 3rd, and so on.
• The highest and lowest rankings received by each team are discarded before final tallying.
• Teams receiving only one point are not listed as “receiving votes.”
• For the Preseason Poll, there is no "previous ranking" column since it is the initial poll and differs from the prior rating system.