KEENE, N.H.—The Keene State College men's basketball team moved up to No. 5 in the most recent D3hoops.com national poll released this afternoon. 

The Owls received 513 points in the poll, and moved up after being at No. 6 for the last two weeks.  

As has been the case for the last seven weeks, the University of St. Joseph's (Conn.) remains No. 1 in the country.   The Blue Jays are the last undefeated team in the nation in Division III at 22-0, and received 615 points and 15 first place votes.  Defending national champion Randolph-Macon College is second with 609 points and the other 10 first place votes.  Christopher Newport University (Va.), University of Mount Union (Ohio) are at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively.  Middlebury College, the only team to the defeat KSC this season, suffered just the third loss of the season with an 89-85 setback to Wesleyan University (Conn.) and dropped from No. 3 to No. 7.

The Owls (21-1, 13-0 LEC) took a huge step towards the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament with a 92-76 win over Western Connecticut State University in Danbury on Saturday.  The Owls, who had needed a furious rally and overtime to defeat the Wolves in Keene on January 7, scored the first seven points of the second half and never looked back, thanks to 23 points apiece by Jeff Hunter and Spencer Aronson.

Keene State can clinch the regular season championship with a win over the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Wednesday, February 8.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.   The Owls won the first matchup of the season, 100-72, in North Dartmouth, Mass., on January 4.

Tickets can be purchased at keeeneowls.com/tickets.