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SALT LAKE CITY – The 12th-ranked Westminster men's basketball team hits the road for the first time of the 2010-11 season with two games at the Las Vegas Shootout this weekend. Westminster will face Vanguard at 3 p.m. on Friday, November 12. They conclude the trip against Fresno Pacific at 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 13. Both games will be played at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas.
Westminster went 2-0 to begin the season at last weekend's Westminster Tipoff Classic. Westminster defeated San Diego Christian 79-71 in overtime to start the year. The Griffins then took a 74-55 win over Olivet Nazarene to complete the perfect weekend.
Concordia (Calif.) is the host school of the Las Vegas Shootout. The tournament features eight teams with four games being played each day. This is the eight consecutive season that Westminster has attended the tournament.
The Griffins are 3-1 all-time against Vanguard. The teams last met on November 14, 2008 when the Griffins defeated the Lions 74-48. The lone Vanguard victory came in the first meeting on November 16, 2002. That game went to Vanguard 59-50.
Westminster and Fresno Pacific played a double-overtime game at last season's Las Vegas Classic with Fresno Pacific picking up an 87-85 win. That is the only win by FPU in three all-tie meeting between the two schools. The teams have played into overtime twice in the three meetings.
Griffins TV
Fans can now watch all Westminster home basketball games live online at Griffins TV. Mike Lageschulte will call the play-by-play with Lance Barton providing color commentary. The pregame show begins approximately 10 minutes prior to tipoff with Coach Connor appearing in the postgame show. To watch the game, visit WestminsterGriffins.com and click on the Griffins TV link.
Live Stats
All home games this season will feature Live Stats at WestminsterGriffins.com. The feed goes live shortly before tipoff so fans can get all the action directly on their computer or mobile device.
Offensive Notebook
>The Griffins are scoring 76.5 points per game to rank fourth in the Frontier Conference.
>Westminster is shooting 45.9% from the field and 30.4% from beyond the arc.
>The teams ranks eighth nationally with a 1.35 assist-to-turnover ratio.
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Michael Stockton is fifth in the Frontier in scoring at 17.5 points per game.
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Jake Harley is 49th nationally with an average of 2.5 makes from deep per game.
Defensive Notebook
>Westminster is allowing 63 points per game to rank 28th in the NAIA.
>The opposition is shooting 40% from the floor and 47.2% from 3-point range.
>The Griffins forced 14.5 turnovers per game in the two games last weekend.
>Stockton and
Jake Orchard are tied for third in the Frontier with an average of two steals per night.
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Jeff Christensen is 15th in the nation at two blocks per game.
Fast Start
With two wins last weekend Westminster started 2-0 for just the seventh time in school history. The most consecutive wins to start the season is 10 set during the 2008-09 season. The Griffins started 1-1 last season after dropping a home game with Warner Pacific on the second night of the year. The team has only started 3-0 three times and only once since 2005.
Coaches Pick Griffins
The Westminster men's basketball team was projected to win a fourth consecutive Frontier Conference championship based on a poll of the eight conference coaches that was released by the conference today. Westminster received six first-place votes and 48 total points in the poll. Montana State-Northern was selected to finish second behind the Griffins with 34 points followed by Rocky Mountain College in third with 33.5 points and Carroll College in fourth with 32.5 points. Carroll received the other two first place votes.
In the Polls
The Westminster men's basketball team received a No. 12 national ranking in the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll. Westminster received 188 points to rank 12th and tie with Lee University (Tenn.) for that position. The Griffins finished last season with a No. 4 ranking. Westminster has now been ranked in 25 consecutive polls released by the NAIA and received votes in 41 straight polls. The last poll not featuring Westminster receiving at least one point was released on January 31, 2007.
Back-to-Back
The 2010-11 schedule features eight back-to-back contests for the Griffins. The first five of these situations happen in the first five weekends of the season. Westminster won both games of the back-to-back last weekend and is now 1-0-0 in that situation. The Griffins faced 10 back-to-back situations last season and won both games five times. They split the two games four times and were swept just once. The Griffins went 8-2 in the first game with a 6-4 record in the second game.
Home Cooking
Since the Behnken Field House opened in 2005, Westminster has gone 61-6 at home. The .910 winning percentage is tops in the Frontier Conference. Westminster has gone 32-3 (.914) at home in Frontier Conference action in Behnken. The two home losses last season was the first time the team had lost twice at home in a season in that time span. The Griffins were 7-0 at home in Frontier play last year, marking the second time they have been perfect at home in conference games.
Next Week
Westminster will remain on the road as they head to Caldwell, Idaho for the Golden Rule Shootout hosted by the College of Idaho. The Griffins will face Warner Pacific in the 6 p.m. game on Friday, November 19. Westminster will play the host squad on Saturday, November 20 at 8 p.m.
