Box Score BOX SCORE

SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster men's basketball team outscored Montana State-Northern 37-24 in the second half to come away with a 65-48 win on Thursday night in the Behnken Field House. No. 12 Westminster (11-4, 1-0) shot a season high 60% from the floor and made eight triples, another season high. Westminster has now won eight consecutive games and two straight Frontier Conference openers.

The Griffins led 35-33 with 16-08 remaining in the game before they used an 18-4 run over the next ten minutes to put the game out of reach. The Griffins never trailed in the contest eventually pushed the advantage to 19. Northern made a run to cut the lead to 54-42 with 4:18 remaining, but two Michael Stockton free throws and then six straight points by Weston Anderson, including a four-point play, sealed the Griffins victory.

“We haven't shot 50% from three all year,” head coach Tommy Connor said. :It was really great for us to come out and shoot the ball the way we did tonight.”

Besides shooting a season-best 60%, Westminster was 8-of-15 from 3-point land and finished with a 27-18 rebounding advantage. They held Northern to just 42.5% shooting and only 37.5% in the second half. The Griffins also turned 11 Northern turnovers into 20 points. Westminster distributed the ball well, finishing with 17 assists on 24 field goals.

“I thought we guarded really well in the second half,” Connor said. “I am really proud of our guys for getting a first league win against a really god Northern team.”

Anderson gave his team an early advantage, scoring 11 of the team's first 13 points. He finished with 20 points and was a perfect 5-of-5 from beyond the arc. Anderson also contributed four assists and two rebounds in the contest.

“Wes is capable of shooting and scoring and he did that for us tonight,” Connor stated of his senior guard.

Michael Stockton had another solid performance off the bench with 12 points, six rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Stockton made four of his five shot attempts and was 4-of-5 at the charity stripe. Ben Walker and Conner Nielsen had eight points apiece with Walker adding seven rebounds and four block shots.

MSU-Northern (12-5, 0-1) forced Westminster into 15 turnovers and those resulted in 17 points. The Lights had a 28-24 advantage in the paint. Andrew Sellars led Northern with 12 points while Justin Dennis had 10. Walynn Burgess had eight points, four rebounds, and four assists.

Westminster continues Frontier Conference action on Saturday, January 9 when they host Great Falls. Action in the Behnken Field House begins at 7:30 p.m. The Utah Jazz Dunk Team will be performing during halftime.