BOX SCORE | TOMMY CONNOR POST GAME INTERVIEW

SALT LAKE CITY – After falling behind by 10 points in the first 7:30 of the game the 12th-ranked Westminster men's basketball team found themselves and finished the night with a 97-80 victory over Colorado Christian on Saturday night. Westminster outscored the NCAA D2 team 53-39 in the second half to improve to 8-0 for just the second time in school history.

“I thought we played great basketball tonight,” head coach Tommy Connor after the victory.

Colorado Christian (1-2) scored the game's first eight points and eventually led 21-11 at the 12:29 mark of the opening half. The Cougars made five three pointers during that initial run, including three by Rye Olsen. Westminster would get back into the game with a 15-8 run over the next five minutes and would eventually take a 40-39 lead at the 2:11 mark.

Westminster would never trail once they assumed the lead and eventually led 95-75 with 1:54 remaining in the contest. The Griffins shot 72.7% from the field in the second stanza and used an 11-2 run midway through the half to keep the Cougars at bay.

“How can you complain when you only miss six shots,” Connor commented about the second half shooting. “Our execution the last seven minutes was phenomenal.”

All five starts scored in double figures for the Griffins led by 18 points from Michael Stockton. Jake Orchard and Tanner Gregory would add 16 points apiece. Westminster ha a 50-28 advantage in the paint and turned 17 CCU turnovers into 23 points.

AJ Reilly scored 14 points with a team-high five assists and five steals in his first start of the season. Reilly went just 2-of-7 from the floor but, made all eight of his free throw attempts. The nation's fourth-best free throw shooting team coming into the game went 30-of-37 (81.1%) tonight.

“I'm really glad AJ stepped up and played,” Connor said of his junior guard. “It hasn't been easy for him but, I started him tonight to see if we could get him off to a good start. He is a good player and he showed that tonight.”

Gregory led a 31-23 rebounding advantage with six boards while Stockton and Orchard each corralled five rebounds. The Griffins turned 11 offensive rebounds into 15 second chance points.

Colorado Christian made 11 threes in the game on 27 attempts. Olsen finished with five triples and tied with Austin Loeb with a team-best 15 points. BJ Wortham added 10 points off the bench to lead the Cougars to a 33-21 advantage in bench scoring.

Westminster will now face William Jessup on back-to-back nights in the Behnken Field House starting on Friday, December 3. Both games will tipoff at 7:30p.m. following the women's game at the Griffin Invitational.