Columbia, Mo. - The Cougar men's basketball team is ranked fourth for the second straight week in Tuesday's latest edition of the NAIA Top 25 Poll. The top five teams in the poll remained unchanged from last week, led by top-ranked Cal State San Marcos (28-1), No. 2 Pikeville (27-2), and No. 3 William and Carey (24-2). Texas' SAGU (26-4) rounded out the top five and fellow American Midwest Conference (AMC) member school Freed-Hardeman (25-4) dropped two spots to No. 8.

Columbia (28-2, 19-1 AMC) closed out the regular season last week and clinched the AMC regular season championship for the fourth consecutive year with two conference victories over Benedictine-Springfield and Missouri Baptist. The two wins stretched the Cougars' winning streak to a season-long 12 games, dating back to January 23^rd. Junior Jeremy Nolen averaged a team-best 16.5 point and 7.0 rebounds in the two wins, including a season-high 27 points in Saturday's 101-69 victory over Missouri Baptist. Columbia was one of the most efficient teams on both ends of the court during the regular season, ranking in the top ten nationally in both field goal percentage (.502) and field goal percentage defense (.397).

As league regular season champions, the Cougars will be the No. 1 seed and have home-court advantage throughout the upcoming AMC tournament. Columbia will host No. 8 seed William Woods University on Thursday, March 6^th in the tournament quarterfinals. Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm at the Arena of Southwell Complex. For the full tournament bracket and results, please visit www.amcsportsonline.com.