Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's basketball team came back from a 14-point deficit to knock off No. 24 Saint Xavier (Ill.) 71-66 on Saturday night in the Behnken Field House.

Westminster improves to 5-0 on the season and they extend their home court winning streak to eight straight dating back to last season.  St. Xavier falls to 0-2 with a loss on consecutive nights at the Westminster Tipoff Classic.

“This was an outstanding win for our team,” head coach Adam Hiatt said after the game.  “This was a national tournament level team.

The Griffins shot 41.7% from the floor in the game and went 6-of-23 (26.1%) from beyond the arc.  The finished with a 44-37 rebounding advantage and turned 12 offensive rebounds into 11 second chance points.  They limited the Cougars to 43.1% shooting and only 36.7% after halftime.  SXU also managed just seven offensive rebounds after grabbing 21 on Friday.

“We missed some defensive assignments in the first half and they exposed us,” Hiatt said of trailing 41-36 at intermission.  “Our defense really picked up in the second half and we achieved our point of emphasis by holding them to seven offensive rebounds.”

Jake Orchard was solid all night for the Griffins and finished with 25 points and four rebounds.  He was 9-of-14 shooting and 6-for-8 at the stripe while also collecting one assist.  Five of those points came in the final 52 seconds of the first half where he helped trim the deficit from 12 to five.

“Jake is one of the fiercest competitors we have,” Hiatt said of his junior forward.  “He wants to win like nobody else and those are the guys you want on your team.”

Adam Rainbird provided a spark off the bench with 11 points and Alex Drecksel added 10 bench points.  Westminster finished with a 26-12 advantage in bench scoring.  They also utilized eight SXU turnovers by turning them into 14 points.

Brad Karp carried the Cougars for much of the night and finished the game with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting.  He also collected nine rebounds and had three steals.  Ed Gilgenbach added 11 points with Mark Peters and Anthony Grant scoring 10 apiece.

St. Xavier started the game with a 17-9 run over the opening 6:30.  Karp scored eight of the first 17 points and when the led had grown to 37-23 with 4:10 to play in the first half, Karp had 16.  Westminster would score 13 of the final 17 points of the half to trail by just five at intermission.

The Cougars would twice grow the lead to double figures early in the second half.  With 12:40 to play Westminster called a timeout and trailed in the contest 55-45.  The Griffins would score seven straight points following the stoppage and the lead would never reach more than seven the rest of the way. 

Raindbird hit a hug three from the top of the key with 4:34 remaining that tied the game at 63-63.  After a stop on the defensive end, Orchard sank two freebies at the other end to put Westminster in front 65-63 with 3:16 remaining and they never looked back.  Ben Walker scored a layup and then Orchard and Tanner Gregory went 3-of-4 at the line to seal the win.