Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the NAIA national office announced its sixth 2016-17 NAIA Division I Coaches' Top 25 Poll of the regular season. The Cougars, who ranked third in the last poll, dropped three spots in the latest rankings to sixth after going 2-2 in their last four games including a 65-57 loss to William Woods (Mo.) University on Saturday.

Columbia College played great basketball all season long and finished the year with a 26-4 overall record and a 19-3 record in conference play. For their efforts this season, the Cougars have earned the top seed in the AMC Championships and will take on Missouri Baptist (Mo.) University in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The game is set to start at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 2^nd in the Southwell Athletic Complex.

Columbia College, who clinched their 13^th regular season conference title, currently rank fourth in the NAIA in 3-point field goal percentage (0.407), seventh in scoring defense per game (66.467), ninth in scoring margin (15.100), and 10^th in total blocks (115). They are led by Nic Reynolds who is currently leading the team in scoring averaging 13.60 points per game on 45 percent shooting from the field. In addition to Reynolds, Malik Ray leads the team in rebounding and is averaging 7.20 rebounds per game while ranking sixth in the NAIA in total blocks (59) and eighth in blocks per game (1.967).

Missouri Baptist comes into their quarterfinal matchup against the Cougars with a 16-14 overall record and a 10-12 record in conference play which was good enough to clinch the eighth seed in the AMC tournament. The Spartans are led by Will Harrington who currently sits fifth in the NAIA in total assists (166) and seventh in assists per game (5.533). As a team, Missouri Baptist ranks seventh nationally in free throw percentage (0.746) and 14^th in scoring defense per game (69.767).