Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's basketball team defeated UC-Colorado Springs 70-45 on Saturday night in the final game of the Westminster Thanksgiving Classic.  UCCS is a NCAA DII team from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Westminster won both of their games at the Classic and improves their record to 9-2 on the season.  UCCS drops to 1-5 overall and after losses in Salt Lake City.

“We really defended well tonight,” head coach Adam Hiatt stated after the game.  “We were really good defensively tonight and made it difficult for them to get easy looks.”

The Griffins dominated the second half of the game and outscored the visitors 40-21 over the final 20 minutes.  They shot 62.1% from the floor after intermission to finish the night at 56.4%.  Westminster finished the game with 42 points in the paint and scored 24 of this in the second half.

We did a nice job of getting the shots we wanted tonight,” Hiatt commented. “After shooting 50% in the first half, I told the guys at halftime we would shoot 60% in the second and have some fun.”

Ben Walker was the high scorer for the Griffins with 14 points.  He shot 7-of-10 from the field with three rebounds and two blocked shots.  Jake Orchard was also big for the Griffins with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.  AJ Reilly added 12 points.

The Westminster bench contributed 26 points and the team held UCCS to 33.3% shooting.  Westminster forced 20 turnovers and scored 19 points from those opportunities, including eight on the fast break.  The Griffins also finished with 21 assists on 31 made field goals with only 14 turnovers.

Jeff Isaac led the Mountain Lions with 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.  The UCCS bench scored 32 points and the team outrebounded the Griffins 31-29 with 12 coming on the offensive end.

Westminster will return to action on Thursday when they travel to Greeley, Colo. for a game against NCAA DI Northern Colorado.  Tipoff on Dec. 1 is slated for 7:05 p.m.