DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College men’s basketball team took another step towards gaining a national ranking in the latest www.D3hoops.com poll released on Tuesday. The Jackets garnered seven points in the week-seven poll and have now received votes for three-straight weeks.

DC climbed in the poll after bouncing Franklin, 99-83, inside the Karl. H. Weaner Community Center in its only game of the week.  The victory, which was the program’s seventh in its last eight games, kept Defiance unbeaten at home and moved the Jackets to 13-3 on the season. The hot streak has seen the Jackets steadily climb towards a top-25 position, as DC now sits just 43 points from a national ranking after being 67 points shy in week six and 84 points shy in the week-five poll.

Defiance has excelled on the offensive end and is leading the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference with 82.0 points and 16.9 assists per game, along with a sparkling 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio. The fast-paced offense currently ranks among the top-25 teams in the nation in all three categories and has helped the Jackets reach the 80-point plateau nine times this season, while pouring in at least 90 points a total of four times.

Defiance will face a pair of road tests this week, with a rivalry game at Bluffton (0-16, 0-7 HCAC) on Wednesday at 7:30 pm and another key HCAC contest at Rose-Hulman (6-10, 2-5 HCAC) on Saturday at 3:00 pm.

Along with hoping to continue its winning ways, DC will be eyeing to move towards a historic victory. Defiance currently has 1,297 victories in the history of its men’s basketball program, needing just three more for 1,300.

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