Notables

Camontae Griffin scored 13 straight points in a four-minute span in the second half to help St. Mary's (Md.) erase a seven-point deficit and go on to beat Hood 89-77. Griffin finished with 51 points to help the No. 20 Seahawks win their second consecutive Pride of Maryland tournament title.

Griffin repeated as tournament MVP as well for the Seahawks, who improved to 3-0. The tournament features eight of the nine Division III men's basketball programs in the state of Maryland on a rotating basis. Sunday's men's scores.

Aaron Thompson tied a career high with 31 points to lead the top-ranked Wash U men past Illinois Wesleyan 76-71 on the road. “They were chasing me off screens, so it gave me more of an opportunity to score inside the three-point arc,” said Thompson. “With four years of experience playing with these guys, we learn to stay calm when we get behind.”

In women's action, Dickinson took advantage of uncharacteristically poor shooting from the foul line to knock off No. 15 Moravian 67-65. The Greyhounds led Division III in free-throw shooting percentage in 2009 but converted just nine of 18 attempts. It's Moravian's first loss of the season, following a win against No. 21 College of New Jersey last week. Sunday's women's scores.

Jim Smith joined an exclusive club in Division III men's basketball as his St. John's team knocked off Division II Minnesota State-Moorhead 81-79 on Saturday night at St. Cloud State.

Smith won his 700th career game, becoming just the second D-III men's coach to reach the milestone and the 27th in collegiate men's basketball history.

He joins Franklin and Marshall coach Glenn Robinson, who improved his career record to 758-291 on Saturday with a win against Gwynedd-Mercy.

Sophomore Andrew Latzke led all scorers with a career-high 27 points, 21 of which came from behind the arc. Junior Chris Schwartz and sophomore Aaron Barmore added 13 apiece, while junior Aaron Burtzel tallied nine points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

No. 25 Amherst pulled away from Ithaca on Saturday afternoon to win 92-67. With the win, Lord Jeff head coach David Hixon got the 600th victory of his 33-year career at Amherst.

A 1975 graduate of Amherst, Hixon has spent his entire career there, having worked as an assistant for three years before assuming the head coaching position. Hixon is just the ninth Division III coach to reach the 600-win plateau, and has the seventh-most victories by an active D-III coach.

Christina Solari had 16 points and 13 rebounds while Kylie Castans had 11 points and junior Hope added 10 as homestanding No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan knocked off No. 1 Washington University 58-53 on Saturday.

The Titans managed only 30 percent shooting for the game (16-for-53) and connected on five of 21 3-point tries (24 percent) but forced the Bears into 31 turnovers and held Washington U. to 32 percent from the field (18-of-56). Saturday's women's scores.

Megan Kopecki scored a game-high 21 points to lead No. 5 Scranton past No. 10 Muhlenberg 62-52. No. 16 Howard Payne hit eight three-pointers in the first half and went on to beat No. 17 Texas-Dallas 69-56.

In men's action, No. 4 St. Thomas rolled over No. 9 Wooster 84-53 in the championship game of Wooster's tournament as Tyler Nicolai scored 20 and Anders Halvorsen scored 14 on 6-for-7 shooting. It was Wooster's worst loss since a loss to Division II Gannon in 1999. Saturday's men's scores.

Carthage rebounded from its Friday night loss to UW-Whitewater by knocking off No. 17 UW-Platteville 78-65 behind 24 points from Steve Djurickovic. Top-ranked and two-time defending champion Washington U. had little trouble with Ohio Wesleyan in an 85-68 win. Tenth-ranked UW-Stevens Point made it a clean sweep in the Pacific Northwest, rolling past No. 18 Puget Sound 70-55 behind 16 from Jerrel Harris and 12 from Louis Hurd. Transylvania knocked off No. 21 Centre 68-60, while 11th-ranked Bridgewater State lost its second game of the season, 78-71 to St. Joseph's (L.I.).

In other women's action, No. 21 Marymount and Gwynedd-Mercy will play for the title of Marymount's eight-game tournament. The Saints opened the game on a 12-4 run and went on to beat King's 64-51 while Gwynedd-Mercy had four players in double figures in an 89-78 win against Ferrum.

The No. 12 DePauw women held a three-point lead over top-ranked Washington U. with just over a minute left, but the Bears scored the game's final eight points and took a 57-52 win over the Tigers in the opening game of Illinois Wesleyan's tipoff tournament. The Bears, who shot just 1-for-12 from downtown, go on to face No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday. Friday's women's scores.

In men's action, The College of New Jersey went on an 18-3 run in the second half to pull ahead and went on to upset No. 7 DeSales 76-71 in the opening round of Albright's tipoff tournament. Aaron Syvertsen scored 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting, 5-for-8 from downtown in the win. Friday's men's scores.

No. 5 Richard Stockton struggled again, edging Western Connecticut 88-86 on a neutral floor at Vassar. Vassar held off Newbury 77-62 to get its crack at the Ospreys. The University of New England upset No. 8 Mass-Dartmouth 86-84.

No. 10 UW-Stevens Point shot 22-for-28 in the first half as the Pointers won a battle of ranked teams 101-79 against No. 16 Whitworth, while 13th-ranked UW-Whitewater edged Carthage 82-81 on the road. Chapman knocked off No. 14 Cal Lutheran 80-74 behind 22 from Justin Wood and a double-double from D3hoops.com insider Justin Riley.

Coast Guard and Connecticut College are across the street each other but met a hundred miles down the road at Manhattanville's tournament. The meeting of two former Conn College assistant coaches saw Coast Guard go on a 33-5 run for a 73-60 win. Bethany took Division II Wheeling Jesuit to overtime before falling 84-79.

In other women's action, No. 5 Scranton and No. 10 Muhlenberg set up a meeting for Saturday as the Royals beat Alvernia and the Mules beat Pitt-Bradford 93-50. Erin Monahan won her 300th career game as William Paterson beat Clark 85-47. No. 25 UW-Stout fell to NAIA Cardinal Stritch 64-52.

Macalester won for the first time since Jan. 30, 2008, defeating Crown 77-60 in its first game under new coach Tim Whittle. Crown, which also went winless last season, has lost 24 games in a row.

Twelve players scored for the Scots, as junior Colin Keeley posted a double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, while senior Jerry Kraus just missed a double-double of his own, finishing with 11 points and nine boards.

Steve Boger scored 12 points to pace Crown, while Mike Landers contributed 11 points and eight rebounds. Crown was held to a 2-for-11 three-point shooting night. More of Tuesday's men's scores.

Bridgewater State had five scorers in double figures to edge Western New England 86-83. MIT won its first game in the post-Jimmy Bartolotta era, defeating Emmanuel 68-54 led by Billy Johnson's 18 points. Andrew MacDonald banked home the game-winning three-pointer to lift New England College to an 86-85 overtime win over Castleton State.

Chapman won its first game of the season, beating Pomona-Pitzer 71-53. Justin Riley, who is one of our Insiders for the 2009-2010 season, notched 12 points and seven rebounds in the Cougars' victory. Rutgers-Camden won its season opener on its own court for the first time since 1981, topping PAC champion Gwynedd-Mercy in thrilling fashion, 62-60. The Scarlet Raptors hadn't played a season opener in Camden since 2000.

Crown's men fared better than its women's team, which lost to UW-River Falls 112-28. Defending champ George Fox beat Corban 74-41 in its season debut. No. 20 Marymount played without three starters but beat Gallaudet 68-59 in a season-opening conference game. No. 11 Kean lost to Division I Rutgers 85-49 ... but it was better than the 85-25 loss Farmingdale State took last year against Rutgers' freshmen.

The wait for the 2009-2010 Division III basketball season is over as men's and women's action is underway.

In fact, a handful of teams couldn’t wait for the fun to begin so they tipped off just after midnight at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Mennonite and Lancaster Bible gave midnight madness new meaning on the men's side (with Eastern Mennonite winning 96-53) and Chatham beat Wilson 66-26 at midnight on the women’s side.

Defending champion Washington U. began its quest for a third Walnut and Bronze by easily defeating MacMurray 88-53. No. 2 John Carroll also started the new season on the right foot, winning at Olivet 90-83. However, not all Top 10 teams were so fortunate.

Chris Beauchamp hit a three-pointer as time expired to lift Baruch over last year's runner-up and preseason No. 5 Richard Stockton, 68-67. Last season the Ospreys went 16-0 at The Sports Center. No. 9 Wooster met a similar fate at Albion where Chris Hutton nailed a three with 36 seconds to give the Britons a 57-55 victory. Hutton finished with 16 points. Austin rallied from an 11-point deficit to take out No. 12 Texas-Dallas in overtime, 79-77. Check out Sunday’s scoreboard.

In women's action, preseason No. 1 Washington U. also got underway by handling Augustana 71-36. No. 5 Scranton survived a trip to Montclair State, defeating the Red Hawks, who were 18-8 last season, 71-65. No. 21 TCNJ began life without the 2009 player of the year Hillary Klimowicz with a loss at Empire 8 champion Stevens, 48-46. Check on Sunday's women's openers.

Back on the men's side, No. 10 UW-Stevens Point denied St. John's coach Jim Smith his 700th victory as the Pointers defeated the Johnnies 71-57. (Photo gallery) Last year’s HCAC champion Transylvania fell 76-54 at Carthage and Brockport State edged St. Lawrence 75-72 in a meeting of two teams that made the 2009 NCAA tournament. Division III scored a pair of wins over Division II as Concordia (Wis.) knocked off Division II UW-Parkside 86-81 in overtime and Buena Vista nipped Wayne State, 62-61.

In what might be a preview of next week's football playoffs, North Carolina Wesleyan lost to Wesley 90-73. The two schools are also matched up in next week's Division III football postseason. Sage played men's basketball for the first time and found RPI too much to handle in an 82-62 loss. (Photo gallery)

If your teams aren't underway, get caught up on our preseason coverage with the Preseason men's and women's All-Americans and school provided team previews.

The start of the Division III basketball season is less than seven days away so this is prime time to talk about the schools expecting big things in 2009-2010. Franklin and Marshall might not have been on that list coming into last season, but it certainly is now.

"Last year expectations were low and easy to meet,” says Coach Glenn Robinson. “This year expectations are high and we now have a bulls' eye on our backs.” How do the Diplomats intend to meet those expectations that come with a No. 6 preseason ranking? Find out by checking out Franklin and Marshall’s preseason preview or any others that are posted.

Preseason info: Men's All-American team | Women's All-American team | Top 25 | Season previews

High expectations are nothing new in Scranton where the Lady Royals have more wins than any other Division III program. Head Coach Mike Strong begins his 30th season with a preseason All-American (find out who it is here) but has never been afraid to use his reserves. Who will contribute off the bench for the No. 5 preseason pick? Take a look at Scranton’s preseason preview and others.

While teams enter their last week of preseason practice, you can gear up for the season by joining Posting Up, our message board community, or browsing through the hundreds of schedules posted online. And check back later in the week for an introduction to this year’s Insiders, the men’s and women’s players who will give us an inside look at their season as it unfolds.

Senior forward Zoë Unruh scored a game-high 21 points and ignited a 19-5 run late in the second half as the No. 1 Washington U. women’s basketball team posted a 84-74 victory at Division I Southern Illinois-Carbondale in an exhibition game on Saturday night at SIU Arena in Carbondale, Ill.

Unruh, who was limited to five points in the first half, scored 16 points in the second half on 6-of-11 shooting from the field with four three-pointers. Junior guard Alex Hoover added 18 points and four assists on 11-of-12 shooting from the foul line, while her younger sister Dani Hoover added 12 second-half points.

• Preseason info: Men's All-American team | Women's All-American team | Top 25 | Season previews

The Bears shot 59.3 percent (16-for-27) from the field in the second half, while connecting on five of eight from three-point range. For the game, Washington U. shot 47.5 percent (28-for-59) from the field and hit 20 of 25 from the foul line. Full story.

Prognostication is an inexact science known to inhabit the preseason of many sports. And we apply that theoretical formula to teams in the form of the preseason Top 25, and to individuals in the form of preseason All-American teams.

Who are the best returning players? Who do we expect to step up? What players have transferred into key spots or are returning from injuries after dropping off the radar? You'll get a little of all of that here.

Announcing the D3hoops.com men's basketball preseason All-American team and women's basketball preseason All-American team.

Will Wash U be good? Alright, you don't need a preseason All-American team to answer that question. But other sleeper names are on the list.

Scroll down for more preseason coverage, and check out this year's season previews: 90 and counting.

Eric Pugh’s lay up as time expired sent Randolph-Macon to a 49-47 victory over defending Patriot League champion American in a men’s basketball exhibition action on Tuesday night in Washington, D.C.

The Yellow Jackets, who went 20-6 last season, are the No. 19 team in the preseason D3hoops.com Top 25. They were the second Division III team in as many nights to defeat a scholarship-level opponent, following an 82-77 win by UW-La Crosse against Division II power Winona State.

For more scores from the exhibition season, which is just getting underway, check out our Scoreboard page.

With the score tied at 47-all, American had the ball with the chance to pull ahead but Nick Hendra’s three-point shot fell short. Pugh came down with the rebound and was able to go coast-to-coast, laying the ball into the net as time expired.

American led 45-43 with a 1:22 to go in the game after Stephen Lumpkins three-point play. Danny Jones pulled R-MC back to a tie with a pair shots from the charity stripe with just over a minute to play.

Pugh led R-MC with 11 points, while David Carlson had seven points in the victory. Kevin Voekel led the Jackets with six rebounds.

The first half proved to be a low scoring one as both team struggled from the field, resulting in just an 18-12 for AU at the intermission.

An Pugh three pointer just under two minutes into the second half pulled R-MC within three at 18-15.

The game remained close through the first 10 minutes of the second stanza before and Adam Desgain pull up jumper tied the game at 30-30. Two Billy Campion free-throws with 9:22 to play gave R-MC a 32-30 advantage.