ANGOLA, Ind. – In the week five Top 25 poll by D3hoops.com, the Trine University men's basketball team moved up one position to 11th in the country.
Hampden-Sydney College solidified their spot at the top of the poll with 20 first-place votes and a 12-1 record. The Thunder jumped Tufts University, who fell to Connecticut College last week.
Trine was able to open up the conference slate in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) with a pair of victories. On Thursday, the Thunder defeated Kalamazoo College on the road by a score of 86-65. The team returned home on Saturday and put away The University of Olivet 76-66.
Trine has four players averaging double-digit points per game in Cortez Garland (15.8), Brent Cox (13.5), Fred Garland (13.4) and Drew Moore (10.0) with Aidan Smylie just off at 9.8 points per game. This group of student-athletes have started in each of the last five games.
Smylie leads the team in steals per game at 2.9 per contest and the team is now fifth in NCAA III in steals at 12.2 per game. They are sixth in the country in turnover margin at +6.9 after winning the turnover battle 25-7 against the Comets of Olivet on Saturday.
The Thunder are on the road this week for games against Alma College on January 10 (7:30 p.m.) and Albion College on January 13 (3 p.m.).