HAVRE, Mont. – The 16th-ranked Westminster men's basketball team fell one game behind in the race for the Frontier Conference championship as they dropped a 64-58 decision against Montana State-Northern on Friday night.

Westminster is now 20-7 on the season and 8-5 in the Frontier. MSU-Northern improves to 20-8 and 9-4 in the conference. Northern is tied with Carroll and Montana Western for the top spot with one game remaining.

The Griffins trailed 55-46 with three minutes remaining before Jake Orchard hit a three to cut the lead to six. After forcing a Northern turnover, Westminster got a layup from Tanner Gregory to cut the deficit to 55-51 with 1:30 to play. Northern would then grab two offensive rebounds from missed free throws and eventually got a layup of their own to push the lead to 58-51 with 58 seconds remaining.

Northern shot just 7-of-13 at the foul line down the stretch, but Westminster couldn't catch up. Travis Tucker hit a three from the corner with 19 second to play, but that would be the last basket of the game for the visiting Griffins. Down four, Michael Stockton missed a three that was rebounded by the Lights to seal the victory.

Westminster shot just 41.3% from the floor in the game. The made 7-of-17 (41.2%) from beyond the arc, however they were just 5-of-14 in the second half. Northern also controlled the glass with 37 rebounds to just 21 by the Griffins. Westminster only committed seven turnovers and scored 20 points in the paint.

Orchard led all players with 19 points. He was 6-of-11 shooting while also make six of his eight attempts at the foul line. Orchard also collected five rebounds in his 38 minutes. Gregory went for 12 points and four rebounds while Tucker and Stockton finished with nine and eight points respectively.

Joe Simpson led Northern with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Shaun Tatarka and Ben Mitchell scored 10 points each as the Lights improved to 13-0 at home this season.

Westminster will look to rebound in the season finale at Great Falls on Saturday night. With help, Westminster can finish as high as second or as low as fourth. The final game of the regular season will begin at 8:00 p.m. Westminster will host a quarterfinal game in the conference tournament on Wednesday, March 2 at 7 p.m. in the Behnken Field House.