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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's basketball team begins the second half of the Frontier Conference season by playing host to two games this weekend.  Westminster will play No. 19 Montana Western on Thursday before hosting Montana Tech on Saturday.  Both games will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Behnken Field House and are part of the Westminster Athletics Hall of Fame Weekend.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster heads into the weekend's games at 15-8 overall this season.  They have a 3-4 record in Frontier Conference action and sit in a four-way tie for third in the conference standings.  The Griffins split two road games last weekend, winning at Great Falls before dropping a game at MSU-Northern. They have gone 6-2 at home this season and won the first five games played at home this year.

The Griffins rank fourth in the Frontier in scoring at 73.5 points per game.  They have scored 1,691 points this year which is third-most in the league and 23rd in the NAIA.  They lead the Frontier in field goal percentage (50.2%) and free throw percentage (74.6%).

Defensively, Westminster holds the opposition to 66.8 points per outing while holding them to 44.3% shooting from the floor.  The Griffins grab 32 rebounds per game while also blocking 2.7 shots per contest.  They average 7.7 steals with a positive 2.00 turnover margin.  The team averages 14.7 assists per game with a 1.14 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Jake Orchard is third in the league in scoring at 16.2 points per game and is 21st in the NAIA with 372 total points.  He ranks second in the Frontier by shooting 53.8% from the field and is second by shooting 83.7% at the charity stripe.  Ben Walker ranks ninth in the conference by scoring 12.5 points per game and tops the conference with a 55.9% field goal percentage.

Walker grabs 5.5 rebounds per game to lead the team and ranks eighth in the Frontier.  Alex Drecksel ranks seventh in the conference by grabbing 1.9 offensive rebounds per game.  Jordan Hayter averages a team-best 2.78 assists per outing while Orchard records 1.39 steals per contest.  Walker blocks 1.44 shots per game and ranks third in the Frontier and 29th nationally.

Game Coverage
Both games this weekend will be carried live on Griffins TV.  The pregame coverage begins at 7:20 p.m. with Mike Lageschulte handling the play-by-play and Lance Barton providing the color commentary.  Head coach Adam Hiatt stops by to chat with the guys during the postgame show.  Live Stats will also be available for the two games.  Links for Griffins TV and the Live Stats are available at WestminsterGriffins.com.

Hall of Fame Weekend
Friday night the Westminster College Athletic Department will induct John Prokopis and Rex Macey into the school's athletic Hall of Fame.  The two will then be honored at a reception on Saturday following the women's game and then introduced to the crowd at halftime of the men's game.  Saturday's festivities are part of Alumni Night which allows all Westminster alumni 2-for-1 admission to the game.

Shooting the Lights Out
The 2011-12 Griffins are once again one of the top shooting teams in the NAIA.  Through 23 games, Westminster is shooting 50.2% from the field which leads the Frontier Conference and ranks fifth in the NAIA.  They have shot above 50% from the floor in 12 games and six times been above 55%.

Looking deeper into the shooting numbers, the Griffins have a True Shooting Percentage of 58.6% and an Effective Field Goal Percentage of 54.9%.  Both of those percentages factor in free throws and 3-point shooting.

Specialty Numbers
Westminster is averaging 73.5 points per game and is scoring 36.6 of those points in the paint.  The Griffins have 842 points in the key area this season and have limited the opposition to just 634 points down low.  They are also averaging 18.1 points per contest off of turnovers by the opposition.  Westminster opponents are averaging 14.9 turnovers per game.

Massey Ratings
Westminster currently sits at No. 34 in the latest edition of the Massey Ratings.  They moved up five positions from last week and have a rating of 0.64.  They are rated third among the eight teams in the Frontier Conference and have played the 21st-rated schedule and defense.

The Massey Ratings are compiled each week with new ranking being released daily.  Kenneth Massey is the creator of the rating formula and all ratings can be found on his web site at www.masseyratings.com.

Offensive Orchard
Orchard is the Griffins top scorer this season at 16.2 points per game.  The junior is third in the Frontier with that average while also ranking second in the league with a 55.9% field goal percentage.  Orchard has reached double figures in 20 of the 23 games and six times gone for at least 20.  He has been the teams leading scorer in 12 games while also collecting the most steals in a game on 10 occasions.

He has been named the Frontier Conference player of the week twice during this season.  He first claimed the honor on Dec. 5 and then won the award again on Jan. 16. Orchard averaged 22.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.5 steals when he won on Jan. 16. He hit 57 percent of his field goals (16 of 28), 73 percent of his 3-point field goals (8 of 11) and 83 percent of his free throws (5 of 6).

1,000 Within Reach
Orchard has scored 870 points in his Westminster career and ranks 13th in school history in that department.  Through the first 53 games of his career, the junior is averaging 16.4 points per game.  He needs 102 more points to move into the top-10 in the record books.  He is on pace to finish the year with 999 career points which would place him ninth at Westminster.

To reach the 1,000-point plateau this season, Orchard would need to average 16.3 points per game over the remaining eight games on the schedule.  Should the Griffins advance reach the finals of the Frontier Conference Tournament that average drops to 13 points per game.

Welcome Back Walker
Walker returns this season after taking a redshirt last season with an injury.  He is currently second on the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game while also grabbing a team-best 127 rebounds.  Walker is shooting 55.9% from the floor and leads the league in that department. The senior forward is third in the Frontier at 1.44 blocks per game and 22nd in the NAIA with 33 total blocks.

With the Game on the Line
The Griffins are one of the nation's top team when it comes to shooting free throws.  Westminster is shooting 74.6% at the stripe this season and has shot 75% or better on 12 occasions.  They rank first in the conference in free throw shooting and fourth in the NAIA.  Orchard makes 83.7% of his trips to the line to rank second in the league and 17th nationally.

Westminster is even better 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.  The Griffins are shooting 75% in those situations, making 42-of-56 clutch attempts.  Orchard has gone 22-for-23 (95.7%) in clutch situations while AJ Reilly is 6-of-7 (85.7%) and Jordan Hayter is 9-of-13 (69.2%).

Hustling Hayter
Junior Hayter has started all 23 games this season for the Griffins.  He is third on the team in scoring at 8.7 points per game.  Hayter has reached double figures in scoring on 10 occasions and twice been the team's top scorer in a game.  He leads the Griffins with 64 assists and is eighth in the Frontier with an average of 2.78 per game. He is also second on the team with 27 steals and is shooting 35.6% from beyond the arc.

Home Advantage
The Griffins have been excellent at home since 1999.  During that time, Westminster has compiled a 136-23 (.856) record in home games and have recorded at least 10 home wins in a season nine times.  They have also posted a 74-11 (.871) mark in Frontier Conference home games.

Westminster has been even better at home since opening the Behnken Field House in 2006.  The Griffins have an all-time record of 73-9 (.890) in their current home and only twice have they lost more than one home game in a season.  In conference, the Griffins have a 39-5 (.886) all-time record in “The Nest” while twice going undefeated at home in league action.

Griffins Picked to Finish Fourth in Frontier
According to a poll of the Frontier Conference men's basketball coaches, the Westminster College men's basketball team is picked to finish fourth in the upcoming season.  That would mark the same finish the team had last year.

The Griffins received 33 points in the poll along with one first-place vote.  Last year's conference tournament champion Montana State-Northern was picked to win the 2011-2012 league title.  Regular season champion Carroll College was second followed by Montana Western.  After Westminster the order was Lewis-Clark State, Rocky Mountain College. Montana Tech and the University of Great Falls tied for seventh. MSU-Northern received five first place votes and Carroll received two.