St. Mary’s Ranked in First Division III Poll of the Season

Sterling, Va. - D3hoops.com released the first Division III Top 25 of the 2008-09 Tuesday morning and the St. Mary's College of Maryland men's basketball broke the Top 20 for the first time ever by earning the No. 18 spot on the poll.

The Seahawks have started the new campaign with an undefeated mark of 5-0 as St. Mary's captured the Fourth Annual Provident Pride of Maryland Division III Men's Basketball Scholarship Tournament with a come-from-behind 84-81 victory over Johns Hopkins University this past Sunday.  Junior guard Camontae Griffin (Baltimore, Md./Dunbar), a Division II transfer from Shaw University, led the Hawks in the win with a season-best 28 points en route to tournament MVP honors.

St. Mary's is currently one of 20 schools on the poll that remain undefeated.

In the preseason poll, the Seahawks were unofficially ranked No. 29 as the squad received the fourth highest votes (71) after the Top 25 schools.  St. Mary's garnered the program's first-ever ranking at the end of the 2007-08 season with its listing at No. 24 after advancing to the Sweet 16 in its first-ever trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Seahawks have thus far dominated their opponents and boast a +14.0 scoring margin as Griffin leads the offensive charge with 21.0 points per game.  There are three other Seahawk players averaging double figures as sophomore guard Alex Franz (Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) is second with 13.6 points per game, senior center Alex Irmer (Alexandria, Va./Wakefield) is third with 12.8 points per game and senior forward Calvin Wise (Bel Air, Md./Calvert Hall) rounds out the top four with 10.2 points per game.

Wise has controlled the glass for St. Mary's, giving them a +4.4 rebounding margin.  He owns a 7.6 rebounding average, while leading the team with a .667 field goal percentage.  A year ago, Wise finished ranked 13th in the nation with a .607 FG%.

St. Mary's opens up defense of its Capital Athletic Conference title tomorrow on the road as the Seahawks travel to Stevenson, Md. to take on Stevenson University (1-5) in the conference opener for both squads.