WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Midwestern State jumped ahead two spots to No. 9 in the latest National Basketball Coaches' Association Division II Poll released Tuesday afternoon.
 
The Mustangs scratched out a pair of one-point wins over Abilene Christian and Angelo State last week to improve to 18-2 on the season and to 11-2 in Lone Star Conference play.
 
Midwestern is one of six teams in the South Central Region to receive mention in the poll joining No. 5 Tarleton State, No. 18 Northwest Missouri, No. 19 Missouri Southern and No. 25 Central Missouri while Arkansas Tech continues to receive votes.
 
Defending national champion Bellarmine (Ky.) remains the unanimous No. 1 followed by West Liberty (W. Va.) at No. 2, Winona State (Minn.) at No. 3, Colorado Mines at No. 4 and Tarleton State at No. 5.
 
Alabama-Huntsville, Kentucky Wesleyan, Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.), MSU and Christian Brothers (Tenn.) round out the Top 10.
 
Former No. 1 Metropolitan State (Colo.) begins the second 10 followed by Shaw (N.C.), Indiana (Pa.), Southern Indiana, Western Washington, Northern Kentucky, Alaska-Anchorage, Northwest Missouri State, Missouri Southern and South Carolina-Aiken.
 
Bowie State (Md.), Indianapolis (Ind.), Hillsdale (Mich.), St. Cloud State (Minn.) and Central Missouri close off the 21-25 positions, respectively.
 
Midwestern State takes on Incarnate Word Wednesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. or 25 minutes following the conclusion of the women's game which begins at 6.
 
Notables

* Midwestern State improved to 18-2 overall and 11-2 in Lone Star Conference play after claiming a pair of 1-point wins over Abilene Christian and Angelo State.
* The Mustangs improved to 10-0 at D.L. Ligon Coliseum while improving their home court winning streak to 11 consecutive games dating back to a 49-47 loss to Tarleton State on Feb. 21, 2011.
* MSU has won 52 of its last 53 games under the dome and is 52-2 since the start of the 2008-09 season.
* Midwestern has won 20 consecutive games over Angelo State at D.L. Ligon Coliseum with the Rams last win coming in 1988... MSU is now 5-1 in games decided by five or fewer points as four of its last six contests have been decided by five or fewer points.
* Midwestern struggled through a horrendous week at the free throw line shooting 47.2 percent at Abilene Christian (17-of-36) before connecting on 18-of-40 free throws against Angelo State (45 percent).
* The Mustangs have shot less than 60 percent from the line in each of their last four games (58-for-119 / 48.7 percent).
* Ironically, MSU claimed wins in both games last week at the charity stripe as Michael Loyd hit a technical free throw with 0.18 seconds left against Abilene Christian and Anthony Harris converted two charity tosses with 17.1 seconds remaining against Angelo State.
* Forward David Terrell completed a great statistical oddity last week while averaging 12 points and eight rebounds. The senior from Houston connected on 12-of-13 shots from the field (92.3 percent) and was 0-for-8 from the free throw line.
* Terrell threw six dunks last week including four against Abilene Christian. He leads the team with 27 throw downs this season after setting a school record with 57 slams in 2010-11.
* Terrell leads the Lone Star Conference in field goal percentage at 67.5 percent.
* The Mustangs have registered four-or-more dunks in each of their last four games and have as many slams in 10 games this season.
* MSU has recorded 75 of its 539 field goals this season via the slam dunk (13.9 percent).
* Junior forward Anthony Harris has scored 10-or-more points in eight of his last nine games.
* Senior guard Michael Loyd has connected on a 3-pointer in 10 consecutive games.
   

NABC Division II Poll
Feb. 7, 2012
Rank	School (1st votes)	Record	Points	Last
1	Bellarmine (Ky.) (8)	20-1	200	1
2	West Liberty (W. Va.)	20-1	191	2
3	Winona State (Minn.)	21-2	183	4
4	Colorado Mines	18-2	171	5
5	Tarleton State (Texas)	20-2	162	3
6	Alabama-Huntsville	17-3	159	6
7	Kentucky Wesleyan	18-3	158	7
8	Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.)	20-2	137	9
9	Midwestern State (Texas)	18-2	134	11
10	Christian Brothers (Tenn.)	17-3	127	10
11	Metropolitan State (Colo.)	18-3	123	12
12	Shaw (N.C.)	18-2	105	14
13	Indiana (Pa.)	17-3	102	13
14	Southern Indiana	17-4	98	8
15	Western Washington	20-3	91	16
16	Northern Kentucky	17-4	84	15
17	Alaska-Anchorage	17-4	65	21
18	Northwest Missouri	17-3	63	22
19	Missouri Southern	18-5	55	23
20	South Carolina-Aiken	16-4	35	24
21	Bowie State (Md.)	16-4	29	17
22	Indianapolis (Ind.)	16-5	21	NR
23	Hillsdale (Mich.)	18-3	20	18
24	St. Cloud State (Minn.)	17-4	18	20
25	Central Missouri	16-4	14	NR
Others Receiving Votes: Arkansas Tech 11; Montevallo (Ala.) 8; West Georgia 8; Adelphi (N.Y.) 6; District of Columbia 6; King (Tenn.) 6; Seattle Pacific (Wash.) 4; Franklin Pierce (N.H.) 3; Anderson (S.C.) 2; Dixie State (Utah) 1.