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SALT LAKE CITY – The 13th-ranked Westminster College men's basketball team plays at home for the first time this season when they welcome Fort Lewis (Colo.) to the Behnken Field House on Friday at 7 p.m. Westminster will then play Western State (Colo.) in a 7 p.m. game on Saturday.

Fort Lewis holds a 3-1 edge in the all-time series with the Griffins. Westminster has dropped two straight in the series and the only win came in overtime in 2002. Westminster is undefeated in four meetings with Western State. The two teams last played in 2008 when the Griffins took a 67-54 win.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster enters the weekend at 1-0 on the season after a 76-67 win at Northern New Mexico last Saturday. The Griffins shot 41.5% from the floor in the game and went 6-of-20 from beyond the arc. They held NNM to 46.9% shooting and forced 18 turnovers.

Orchard's the Pick
Senior forward Jake Orchard was selected as the Frontier Conference Preseason Player of the Year. Orchard was an honorable mention All-American last season after averaging 15.2 points per game and shooting 53 percent from the floor. He ranked in the NAIA top 50 in both field goal percentage and free throw percentage (.816) and also recorded 42 steals and 65 assists.

Closing in on 1,000
Orchard enters weekend just 47 points shy of 1,000 for his career. Only eight players in school history have scored 1,000 points as a Griffin with the last being Nate Sanchez and Danny Stosich who accomplished the feat during the 2008-09 season. Orchard scored 13 points in the season opener and is on pace to reach 1,000 during next week's road trip.

Checking in with Hayter
Senior Jordan Hayter returns after scoring 9.7 points per game last season and placing second on the team with 87 assists. He was a 50.2 percent shooter from the floor last year and 32.3 percent from beyond the arc. Hayter recorded a team-best 45 steals and reach double figures in points on 17 occasions on his way to being named second team all-Frontier Conference. Hayter missed the opener with an injury.

Robertson Making an Impact
Junior Tallon Robertson got his Westminster career off to good start. The forward led the team with 17 points in the win over Northern New Mexico. She shot 6-of-8 from the field and 5-of-8 at the foul line. He also grabbed six rebounds and had one steal in 29 minutes of action.

Skidmore Holds His Own
Blake Skidmore started the game at NNM and finished with 12 points in 27 minutes. The junior transfer from Big Bend (Wash.) shot 4-of-10 from the field and connected once from beyond the arc. He made all three of his free throw attempts and led the team with five steals while grabbing three rebounds.

Starting Fast
Historically the Griffins have been excellent in the first few weeks of the season. Since the program was reinstated in 1999, Westminster is 82-35 (.701) in all games played before Dec. 1. They went 9-2 in those games last season and are 18-2 in Oct. / Nov. dating back to the 2010-11 season. The only season the team was below .500 through November was the 1999 team that finished 3-4.

Creating Scoring Opportunities
The Griffins had a strong showing defensively against Northern New Mexico on Saturday. They held the Eagles to 46.9% shooting and finished with a 36-34 rebounding edge. Westminster forced 18 turnovers in the game and took advantage by scoring 19 points from the opportunities. They came up with 12 steals which led to six fast break points.

In the Clutch
Both Orchard and Robertson finished 3-of-4 at the foul line in clutch situations on Saturday. Orchard is now 35-of-38 (92.1%) in those situations over the past two seasons. Hayter and Alex Drecksel are the only other two Griffins with clutch free throw attempts in their careers with Hayter making 15-of-22 and Drecksel going 1-for-3. Combined, the four players are shooting 82.8 percent at the line in clutch situations. A clutch situation is defined as any free throw with less than 5:00 remaining in the game (plus all of overtime) and a positive or negative differential of 10 points or less.

In the Polls
Westminster is ranked No. 13 in the 2012-13 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll, the NAIA announced Tuesday. Westminster received 139 points in the poll to sit in a tie for the 13th position with Biola (Calif.). The team has now been ranked in 87 polls all-time and they return to the preseason poll for the first time since starting the 2010-11 season at No. 12. This marks the fourth time the team has been No. 13 or better in the preseason poll in the past six years.

Comcast to Carry Griffin Home Games
The Westminster College Athletics Department is pleased to announce that all Westminster men's and women's home basketball games will be broadcast live on Comcast Utah Channel 6. The games will then be available on Xfinity Utah On Demand that same week. Comcast Utah Channel 6 is available to all Comcast subscribers in the following Utah counties: Box Elder, Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Sanpete, Summit, Tooele, Utah and Weber along with Franklin, Idaho.  Mike Lageschulte and Lance Barton return as the broadcast team for Westminster basketball. Lageschulte enters his third season as the play-by-play voice of Griffins. Barton begins his second year as an analyst.

Looking Ahead
The Griffins hit the road next weekend for their annual trip to Las Vegas. Westminster will face Vanguard (Calif.) on Nov. 9 and then No. 8 Westmont (Calif.) on Nov. 10.