BOX SCORE | GRIFFINS TV POSTGAME

SALT LAKE CITY – The sixth-ranked Westminster men's basketball team used a strong second half to run away with an 82-60 win over No. 22 Montana Western on Saturday night in the Behnken Field House. Westminster turned a six point halftime advantage into the 22 point victory by outscoring Western 37-21 in the final 20 minutes.

Westminster improves to 13-3 on the season and 1-1 in the Frontier Conference while UMW drops to 12-4 overall and 0-2 in league games.

“It was a great bounce-back game for us,” head coach Tommy Connor said. “We made shots early and defensively we really guarded in the second half.”

Western would lead 15-11 with 14:24 reaming in the first half before the Griffins used an 11-0 run over the next two minutes to open a seven point cushion and never look back. UMW would draw even at 35 with 5:39 left in the first half when Westminster finished the period on a 10-4 run to lead 45-39 at intermission. It would get within 49-45 at the 14:20 mark of the second half when Brandon Brown finished a layup. Chris Cassity made a three on the next Griffin possession to regain momentum.

Westminster finished the night shooting 45% from the floor and made a season-high 11 threes. The team finished 11-of-27 from beyond the arc and also made 17-of-19 at the charity stripe. The Griffins took care of the ball on Saturday with just nine turnovers while recording 17 assists. Defensively they limited Western to 35.8% shooting and forced 19 Bulldog turnovers.

“We shot more threes than we would like tonight,” Connor stated if the 27 attempts. “Luckily we made some.”

AJ Reilly led five Griffins in double figures with 17 points. Reilly went 6-of-12 from the field while grabbing two rebounds and two steals. Michael Stockton and Adam Rainbird added 13 points apiece with Stockton matching his career high with eight assists while only committing one turnover. Rainbird's 13 points sparked a 29-13 advantage in bench points for the Griffins. Tanner Gregory had 12 points and Jake Orchard scored 11.

Brown led Western with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Tyler Hurley finished with eight points despite shooting 1-of-10. Western grabbed 13 offensive rebounds and scored 12 points from them.

Westminster will now hit the road for two Frontier Conference road games. The first comes on Thursday, January 13 in Helena, Montana against Carroll College. The trip concludes on Saturday, January 15 against Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana.