Box Score DILLON, Mont. – The Westminster College men's basketball team saw its run in the Frontier Conference Tournament come to an end on Friday night against No. 2 Montana Western. Brandon Brown of Western hit a pull-up jumper as time expired to win the game for Western, 70-68.

Westminster, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, sees its tournament run come to an end in the semi-finals for the second straight season. They are now 21-11 on the season and must wait to see if they receive an at-large invite to the NAIA National Championships. The field of 32 will be announced on Wednesday with Westminster currently ranked 33rd in the latest poll.

The Griffins only lead once in the game, 4-3, and trailed by as many as 11 during the first half. Western (24-8) eventually carried a 34-31 lead into the locker room at halftime. The No. 2 seeded Bulldogs led throughout the second half and with 1:12 remaining the Griffins trailed 68-62.  Ben Walker would make two free throws to cut the deficit to two and then Tyler Hurley missed two freebies. A Walker layup with 49.4 seconds left put Westminster within 68-66.

After an excellent defensive possession forced Bridger Chambers into a long three that was rebounded by Walker, the Griffins watched Jordan Hayter tie the game at 68-68 with 4.4 seconds to play on a jumper in the key. Following a Western timeout, Brown took the inbounds pass the length of the floor before pulling up for a 21-footer as time expired that hit nothing but net to win the game.

Westminster shot 43.9% from the floor in the game and scored 28 points in the paint. They were at 50% in the second half and finished 6-of-16 from beyond the arc in the contest. Westminster held a 31-29 rebounding advantage and scored 11 second chance points from 10 offensive rebounds. 

Walker led three Griffins in double figures with 15 points while also grabbing a team-best nine rebounds.  In maybe his final collegiate game, Walker went 5-of-10 from the floor with two blocks and one steal.  Hayter scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds. Senior Chris Cassity scored 12 points.

Brown led all scorers with 31 points. The Frontier's leading scorer shot 12-of-15 from the floor and had three makes from beyond the arc. Hurley added 12 points and six rebounds for the Bulldogs.

Western will now face top-seeded Montana State-Northern on Monday in Havre, Mont. in the championship game. The Griffins will wait for Wednesday to see if their season will continue.