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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster men's basketball team continues its quest for a third straight Frontier Conference Tournament championship when travel to Helena, Mont. to play Carroll on Saturday, March 5. Westminster is the tournament's No. 4 seed while Carroll in the No. 1 seed.

Westminster advanced to the semi-finals with an 82-70 win over No. 5 seed Lewis-Clark State on Wednesday night. Carroll made the semi-finals with a 75-69 home victory over Montana Tech. Westminster and Carroll met two years ago in the semi-finals in Salt Lake City.

This is a third straight semi-final appearance for the Griffins and the ninth appearance all-time. They have won seven straight Frontier Conference Tournament games over the past three seasons. They enter Saturday's game with a 21-8 overall record and snapped a two-game losing streak with Wednesday's win.

Michael Stockton finished Tuesday's game with 29 points. He was one off his career high while adding four assists and five steals. Tanner Gregory added 14 points and five rebounds while Jake Orchard had 13 points. Jordan Bjornberg had 10 points and AJ Reilly added nine.

About the Fighting Saints
Carroll completed the regular season at 20-7 overall and tied for the Frontier Conference title with a 10-4 record. Their quarterfinal victory over Montana Tech was the fifth straight victory for the Fighting Saints. They have won eight of the last nine games played. Andy Garland leads the team in scoring and rebounding at 18.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He averaged 22 points and five rebounds per game in two meetings with the Griffins this season. Tony Dalton and Byago Diouf scored 27 and 21 points respectively in those two games.

Live Video
Fans can watch Saturday's game live on the Carroll UStream channel. Links to this channel can be found at WestminsterGriffins.com or Carroll.edu/athletics.

Live Stats
Live Stats will be available for Saturday's game. The stat feed is available at tipoff and can be accessed at WestminsterGriffins.com or dakstats.com/naia.

Frontier Tournament History
Westminster is 17-9 all-time at the Frontier Conference Tournament. The team's first tournament win came against Great Falls in 2001. They have won back-to-back tournament titles and are riding a seven-game winning streak in the postseason event. Westminster has never lost a tournament game under the current format, having played all six of the seven games at home. They are 6-2 all-time in the semi-finals and 2-2 against Carroll in the postseason.

Selection Show on VSN
The 2011 NAIA National Championships Selection Show will be broadcast live by the Victory Sports Network on Wednesday, March 9. The broadcast will begin at 6 p.m. MST with all 16 first round matchups being presented along with tournament seeds and game times. The broadcast will be available, live and on-demand, at www.livestream.com/victorysports.

Dynamic Duo
Westminster holds one of the top 1-2 punches in the NAIA entering the final weekend. Jake Orchard and Michael Stockton combine to average 34.64 points per game with each shooting above 54% from the field. They are the sixth-highest scoring duo in the NAIA and the only two teammates in the top 15 in field goal percentage. The pair can also be found in the NAIA top 50 in free throw percentage and steals. Stockton also ranks in the top 50 in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio.

Nothing but Net
Westminster is rated in the Frontier Conference's top four in all three shooting percentage categories. The Griffins lead the conference in field goal percentage by shooting 49.7% from the field. They are also tops in the conference at the foul line at 76.3% and fourth in 3-point shooting at 35.3%. They rank fifth nationally in field goal percentage and second in free throw percentage. The Griffins have a True Shooting Percentage of 60.7%. True shooting percentage is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws.

Massey Ratings
Westminster is rated 22nd in the latest Massey Ratings that were released on February 26. The Griffins have a rating of 0.732 and are the third-best rated team in the Frontier Conference. According to the ratings, Westminster has played at 15th-toughest schedule while the Frontier Conference is rated as the second-best conference.

NAIA Coaches' Poll
For the second time in four weeks the Griffins have slipped out of NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. They received one point in the February 28 poll to sit among the other teams receiving votes. Earlier this season they snapped a run of 31 consecutive polls ranked in the top 25.

Home Cooking
Since the Behnken Field House opened in 2005, Westminster has gone 72-7 at home. The .911 winning percentage is tops in the Frontier Conference during that time. The Griffins are 13-1 at home this season. Westminster is 38-4 (.905) 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.

Looking Ahead
If Westminster wins on Saturday, they would advance to the conference title game. They would play at the winner of the Montana Western at Montana State-Northern game on Tuesday, March 8 at 7 p.m.