Box Score SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's basketball team dropped a 60-57 decision against No. 22 Montana State-Northern on Saturday night in the Behnken Field House.

Westminster moved into a three-way tie for third place in the Frontier Conference standings with a 7-6 record. They are 19-7 overall with one game remaining in the regular season. MSU-Northern improves to 23-6 overall and 9-4 in league.

Westminster got off to a slow start on Thursday and found themselves trailing 10-2 just over seven minutes into the contest. Northern would build the lead to 11 wit 7:04 to play in the first half and would eventually take a 25-18 lead into the intermission after shooting 57.9% from the floor.

The Griffins took the floor in the second half with a sense of purpose.  Westminster opened the period with a 13-4 run over the first five minutes to take their first lead of the evening at 31-29.  Ben Walker scored seven straight points for the Griffins during the run and capped it off with a 15-foot jumper from the baseline.

The lead would grow to 40-32 for Westminster with 12:31 remaining in the game thanks to six straight points. Northern then put together a blistering streak to retake control of the game.  The visiting squad scored nine consecutive points to take the lead and eventually pushed the run to 25-7 to lead 57-47 with 3:48 remaining.  Westminster would force some turnovers and watch MSUN go 3-of-5 at the line to give the Griffins a chance.  Colton Moon got off a 28-footer as time expired that would have tied the game, but missed it off the iron.

Westminster shot 48.9% from the floor in the game and made 59.3% after halftime.  They scored 28 points in the paint and scored 21 points from 17 Northern turnovers.  The Griffins were just 1-of-10 from beyond the arc and they went 10-of-19 at the foul line after entering the night ranked No.1 in the nation in that category.

Walker led all scorers with 18 points on an 8-of-14 shooting night. It was his highest scoring game of the conference season and just the third league game he had double figures in points. Walker also grabbed a team-best six rebounds and had two blocked shots.  Tanner Gregory finished with 12 points and four rebounds.

Ben Mitchell led MSUN with 17 points off the bench.  He made his first five shots, including four threes, and finished 6-of-9.  Devin Jackson scored 13 points with eight rebounds and David Maddock scored 12.

The final game of the regular season is Saturday when the Griffins host Great Falls at 7:30 p.m. in the Behnken Field House.  Westminster will secure a first round home game in the conference tournament with a victory. The five Westminster seniors will be recognized in a ceremony prior to tipoff.