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SALT LAKE CITY – The 23rd-ranked Westminster men's basketball team completes the first half of the conference schedule with two games in the Behnken Field House this week. Westminster will play Great Falls on Thursday, January 27 and then Montana State-Northern on Saturday, January 29. Both games will tipoff at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday's game is Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night with all Westminster faculty and staff and their guests receiving free admission. Saturday is Alumni night where all Westminster alumni receive 2-for-1 admission. The coaching staffs will also be wearing suits and sneakers for Coaches vs. Cancer Weekend. The Utah Jazz Dunk Team will perform at halftime of the men's game.

Westminster enters the week at 15-4 overall and 3-2 in the Frontier Conference. They are currently tied for second place in the Frontier with three other teams, one game behind MSU-Northern. The Griffins have won two straight and three of the last four they have played. The team scores 77.1 points per game while holding the opposition to 66.6 per outing.

About the Argonauts
Great Falls will come to town with an 8-12 overall record and 1-4 in the Frontier. They split home games with Rocky Mountain and Carroll last weekend. The team scores 74.2 points per game while shooting 43.4% from the floor. The Argos are 50th nationally in holding opponents to 69.9 points per game. Mark Celaya leads the team in scoring at 14 points per contest while L.J. Jones has a team-best 107 rebounds.

About the Lights
No. 18 Montana State-Northern enters the week at 15-5 overall and first in the Frontier at 4-1. The Lights have won two straight and nine of the last 10 games they have played. The team leads the nation with 190 made threes and is second nationally at 9.5 makes from deep per game. Shaun Tatarka averages 13.9 points per game to lead the team. He is also fourth nationally with 58 made triples and ninth with 45 steals.

Griffins TV
Both games this week will be broadcast live on Griffins TV. Mike Lageschulte will handle the play-by-play duties with Lance Barton providing color commentary. The broadcast begins about 15 minutes prior to tipoff with the pregame show. Head coach Tommy Connor joins the guys in the postgame.

Live Stats
Live Stats will be available for both games this week. Fans can access the Live Stats at WestminsterGriffins.com with the feed going live about 10 minutes prior to tipoff.

All-American Numbers
Senior guard Michael Stockton is a serious All-American candidate this season. Stockton ranks in the top 20 in the Frontier Conference in seven statistical categories. He is second in scoring at 18.7 points per game and tops in field goal percentage at 56.8%. He also ranks second in free throw percentage, second in assists, second in assist/turnover ratio, and third in steals. Stockton is also in the NAIA Top 50 in six of those categories including 18th in scoring and 16th in assists.

Quest for Four
Westminster is looking for a fourth consecutive Frontier Conference championship in 2011. The Griffins have won seven conference titles since the program was reinstated in 1999. They enter this week tied for second with a 3-2 record and sit one game behind MSU-Northern. The current three straight titles matches a three year streak from 2003-06.

Conference Selects AJ
Griffin junior AJ Reilly was named the Frontier Conference Player of the Week on January 24. It is the first time this season that Reilly has won the award and the fourth time a Griffin has claimed the honor. Reilly scored 22 points, pulled down six rebounds, and had six assists and two steals in the Griffins 82-70 win over Lewis-Clark State.

Fast Start
Westminster started the season 11-0 before dropping a game at Azusa Pacific. The 11 wins to start the year is the most wins to start a season in school history. The team opened with 10 consecutive wins to start the 2008-09 season to set the previous record. That team started the year 19-1 for the best record with only one loss in school history.

Massey Ratings
Westminster is rated 11th in the Massey Ratings that were released on January 24. They are the top rated Frontier Conference team with a rating of 0.915. The Frontier Conference is the second rated conference behind only the Golden State Athletic Conference. The Griffins loss to Montana Tech is rated as the biggest upset of the 2010-11 season according to the ratings.

NAIA Coaches' Poll
Westminster received 80 points in the January 24 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll to rank 23rd. The Griffins have now been ranked in 30 consecutive polls dating back to the 2008-09 season. The last time Westminster wasn't ranked in the NAIA Top 25 was March 5, 2008. During the 30 week stretch, Westminster has been inside the top 10 a total of 19 times with this week's 23rd being the lowest they have been.

Home Cooking
Since the Behnken Field House opened in 2005, Westminster has gone 67-7 at home. The .905 winning percentage is tops in the Frontier Conference during that time. The Griffins are 8-1 at home this season. Westminster is 34-4 (.895) 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 games last year, marking the second time they have been perfect at home in conference games.

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.

Looking Ahead
The Griffins will begin the second half of the conference schedule with a trip to Montana. Westminster will face Montana Western in Dillon on February 4 and follow that with a February 6 contest with Montana Tech in Butte.