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SALT LAKE CITY – The 13th-ranked Westminster College men's basketball team travels south to Las Vegas for two games this weekend. Westminster will play Vanguard (Calif.) at 5 p.m. on Friday to begin the trip. They wrap-up the weekend with a 2 p.m. against No. 8 Westmont on Saturday. Both games will be played at Durango High School.

There will not be any live stats or video available for the games this weekend. Updates can be found by following the Griffins on Twitter @wc_griffins.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster dominated two home games last weekend to move their overall record to 3-0 this season. They defeated Fort Lewis (Colo.), 83-63, on Friday and followed that with a 95-53 win over Western State (Colo.) on Saturday. In three games they have had three different top scorers and the team is shooting 44.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Against the Opposition
Westminster holds a 4-1 edge in five meetings against Vanguard and has won four straight in the series. The last meeting was an 85-49 win by the Griffins in 2010 at this same Vegas tournament. The lone Vanguard win was a 59-50 decision in 2002. The Griffins also hold a slim 2-1 edge in the all-time series with Westmont. They last played in 2009 where the Griffins took an 84-51 win in Salt Lake City. The lone Westmont win in the series came in 2002 when they won 67-52 in Santa Barbara.

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. This season, Orchard is averaging 14.7 points per game and shooting 44.8 percent from the field. He has been in double figures in all three games and is tied for the team lead with nine steals.

Closing in on 1,000
Orchard makes the trip to Vegas just 16 points shy of becoming the ninth Griffin in school history to surpass the 1,000-point mark for a career. He is a career 15.9 points per game scorer and currently ranks fourth in school history in scoring average. The last Griffin to eclipse 1,000 points was Danny Stosich during the 2008-09 season.

Shoot the Moon
Sophomore Colton Moon had a breakout performance last weekend. The guard scored 18 points in each of the games to establish a new career high. He was named the Frontier Conference Player of the Week after going 12-of-15 from the floor (80 percent) and making 10 of his 13 attempts from beyond the arc. Moon also added eight assists and seven steals in the two games. On the year, Moon is averaging 13.3 points per game with 11 triples and shooting 68.8 percent from deep.

Robertson Making an Impact
Junior Tallon Robertson got his Westminster career off to good start. The forward is averaging 11.3 points per game while grabbing five rebounds per night. He has scored in double figures twice in three games and is shooting 52 percent from the field. In the opener against Northern New Mexico, Robertson scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds in a 76-67 win.

Pryor Gets it Going from Deep
After scoring just eight points in the first two games of the season, Jordan Pryor got things going against Western State. The freshman guard went for 23 points against the Mountaineers and went 7-of-10 from beyond the arc. He was two threes shy of matching the school record of nine set by Jordan Jacobs and he is currently shooting 56.3 percent from distance on the season.

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 84-35 (.706) in all games played before Dec. 1. They went 9-2 in those games last season and are 20-2 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 have been lethal on the defensive end of the floor this season. Westminster opponents are shooting just 40.9 percent from the field and only 23.4 percent from beyond the arc. The Griffins have created 21.7 turnovers per game and hold a positive 9.7 turnover margin. The team is averaging 26.7 points off turnovers this season while allowing just 11.7 to the opposition.

In the Clutch
Both Orchard and Robertson are 3-of-4 at the foul line in clutch situations this year. 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.

Looking Ahead
The Griffins return to the road for two games when they travel to Caldwell, Idaho to take part in the Golden Rule Shootout. Westminster will play Walla Walla on Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. before facing the host College of Idaho on Nov. 17 at 8 p.m.