Seahawks Sustain Climb Up Division III Poll; Franz Owns Nation’s Second-Best Steals per Game

Minneapolis, Minn. - The rise of the St. Mary's College of Maryland men's basketball team in the D3hoops.com Top 25 rankings continued in Week 6 as the Seahawks moved up three spaces to No. 17 as announced Tuesday afternoon.

The Seahawks (11-2, 4-1 CAC) are currently in a three-way tie for first in the conference standings with York (Pa.) College (12-2, 4-1 CAC) and Hood College (9-5, 4-1 CAC).  St. Mary's and Hood's lone league loss came at the hands of York while the Spartans suffered their one setback at Marymount (Va.) University.

St. Mary's has captured 13 straight regular-season contests at home and will put this home-court advantage to the test this week against the University of Mary Washington (Wednesday at 8:00 pm) and Gallaudet University (Saturday at 4:00 pm).  The Seahawks' last regular-season home loss was a 72-70 setback to Marymount on January 30, 2008.

As a team, St. Mary's ranks in the top 30 in Division III in three-point field goal defense and steals per game, holding opponents to a 27.4-three-point field goal percentage for 20th in the country and boasting 10.7 steals per game for the nation's 30th-best average.

Junior guard Alex Franz (Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) edged closer to the No. 1 steals average in Division III as Franz owns the country's second-best average with 3.9 steals per game.  BJ McGill of St. Vincent College averages 4.5 steals per game to lead the nation.  Franz is 22nd in Division III with 5.6 assists per game.

Senior guard Camontae Griffin (Baltimore, Md./Dunbar) jumped 10 spots to be ranked 14th in the country with a league-best 22.3 points per game.  Griffin is also 41st in free throw percentage with a CAC-leading 87.7%.