BOX SCORE

HELENA, Mont. – The Westminster men's basketball saw its Frontier Conference Tournament reign end as they suffered a 68-62 defeat to No. 19 Carroll on Saturday night. The fourth-seeded Griffins were the two-time defending tournament champions.

With the loss, Westminster falls to 21-9 on the year while Carroll improves to 22-7. Carroll will host Montana State-Northern in the conference title game on Tuesday.

The first half featured eight ties and neither team held more than a five point advantage in the first 20 minutes. The eighth tie of the half came on a three from Tanner Gregory as time expired to make it 35-35 at intermission. After both teams scored on the first possessions to star the second half, Westminster went on a 9-0 run capped by a Chris Cassity trey to put them on top 46-37 with 13:04 to play.

Carroll would then out together a 12-2 run of its own to build a one point lead with nine minutes to play. A Tony Dalton and-one with 3:44 remaining put Carroll ahead for the final time. Westminster trailed by two with 1:05 to play when Byago Diouf tipped a loose ball to Chris McGrath who then found Andy Garland for a layup and foul. The free throw put Carroll ahead 64-59 with 59.9 second to play. Westminster failed to score on the next three possessions and Carroll made free throws to seal the victory. Gregory made a three at the buzzer to make the final deficit six.

Westminster shot 46.9% from the floor in the game. They also had seven makes from beyond the arc while going 9-of-14 at the charity stripe. The Griffins posted six assists and seven of their 25 rebounds came on the offensive end. Defensively they limited Carroll to 46% shooting and forced them into 10 turnovers.

Gregory led all scorers with a career high 22 points. He was 8-of-17 from the field with three triples and five rebounds. Jake Orchard added 20 points and four rebounds. Senior Michael Stockton scored 11 points with five rebounds and two assists.

Garland led four Saints in double figures with 15 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Diouf added 13 points and nine rebounds while Dalton and Sam Cartmell scored 11 and 10 respectively.

Westminster must now hope for an outside shot at an at large berth to the NAIA National Championships. They field of 32 will be announced on Wednesday, March 9 at 6 p.m. live on the Victory Sports Network. The broadcast can be found online at www.livestream.com/victorysports.