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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's basketball team will conclude the regular season this week with two games. Westminster will play at Carroll (Mont.) at 8 p.m. on Thursday before coming home for a Senior Night contest against Montana tech at 7:30 p.m.

Game Coverage
Thursday's game will be shown live in HD on the Altitude Sports Network. Peter Young will handle the play-by-play for Altitude, which can be found in Utah on Comcast channel 61, Dish Network channel 410 and DirecTV channel 681. Saturday's game will be carried on Griffins TV and Comcast 6 with Mike Lageschulte (play-by-play) and Lance Barton (analyst). Live Stats will be available for both games with links for Griffins TV and live stats available in the calendar section of WestminsterGriffins.com.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster begins the final week of the regular season at 20-7 overall and 7-6 in Frontier Conference play. They dropped two games on the road last week – at Great Falls (Mont.) and Montana State-Northern – to extend the current losing skid to three games. The Griffins sit in fifth-place entering the final week, but they could still finish as high as No. 3.

Westminster has gone 7-5 in road games this year and is just 1-5 in league road games. They have a 10-1 record in home games this season with the only loss coming to Great Falls on Jan. 10. The Griffins are 12-2 on the season when they score at least 80 points and they hold an 18-1 mark when leading with five minutes left in regulation.

The Griffins are scoring 79.42 points per game this season to rank second in the Frontier and 25th in the NAIA. They have scored at least 75 points in 18 games during the year and five times they scored at least 90 points. As a team they shoot 47.1 percent from the field to place second in the league and they are making 35.1 percent from beyond the arc. Westminster averages 14.77 assists per contest and they lead the country with a 7.27 turnover margin.

The opposition is scoring 65.46 points per game which places the Griffins third in the conference and 17th in the NAIA in scoring defense. Westminster holds their opponents to 43.1 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from beyond the arc. By giving up just 33.81 rebounds per game, Westminster ranks 28th in the country while forcing 20.15 turnovers per contest. The Griffins average 11.08 steals per game to lead the Frontier and rank seventh in the country.

Against the Opposition
After taking a 95-62 win over Carroll last month in Salt Lake City, Westminster now leads the all-time series with the Saints 19-14. The two teams have alternated win in the last seven games with the Griffins last winning in Helena during the 2009-10 season.

Montana Tech defeated Westminster 75-68 in Butte earlier this season for just their sixth win in the series. The Griffins hold a 23-6 lead all-time against the Orediggers, but they have dropped fur of the last five match-ups. Tech last won in Salt Lake City on Jan. 6, 2011 for just the second road win in the series.

Winning 300
With a 92-52 win over Dickinson State (N.D.) on Jan. 17, Westminster reached the 300-win mark in the modern era of the program. Westminster reinstated basketball for the 1999-2000 season and in that time the Griffins have compiled a record of 305-132 record in the 14 years for a .698 winning percentage. The team has won at least 20 games in 12 of the 14 seasons, including 11 straight, and won seven Frontier Conference championships. Westminster has been to the NAIA National Championships nine times since 1999 and had 12 players named a NAIA All-American.

12 Straight with 20
Thanks to their 95-82 win over Lewis-Clark State on Feb. 2, Westminster reached the 20-win mark for the 12th consecutive season. The Griffins have surpassed 20 wins in all but two of the 14 seasons since the program was brought back in 1999. The current 12-year streak is the longest active streak in the league with Montana State-Northern following with six straight 20-win seasons.

Creating Scoring Opportunities
Westminster currently leads the NAIA in turnover margin (+7.27) thanks to forcing 20.15 turnovers per game. They are coming up with 11.08 steals a night to rank seventh in the NAIA and established a new school record with 288 steals so far this year. The Griffins score 22.1 points per game from opponent turnovers which accounts for 27.8 percent of the team's 79.4 points per game. In contrast, Griffin opponents are scoring just 11.2 points from turnover per game or 17.1 percent of their total points.

Attacking the Paint
The Griffins have been real good at scoring in the paint this season. They average 39.2 points per game down low which helps with the 52.2 percent they shoot on 2-point field goals this season. The 39.2 points is 49.4 percent of the Griffins season average and is 11.3 points per game more than the opposition scores in the paint.  Westminster has scored at least 40 points in the paint in 10 of the teams last 12 games.

Orchard's the Pick
Jake Orchard is once again having a balanced season for the Griffins. The Frontier Conference Preseason Player of the Year is averaging a team-high 13.77 points per game and he has scored in double figures in 19 games this season. He shoots 46.9 percent from the field and leads the team with 70 assists and 48 steals. Orchard's 1.85 steals per game rank 46th in the NAIA and he is 42nd with 48 total steals. He also ranks 45th in the country with a 1.84 assist-to-turnover ratio. Orchard scored a season-high 32 points in the team's loss at MSU-Northern last Saturday.

Join the Club
With 18 points against Vanguard (Calif.) on Nov. 9, Orchard became the ninth Griffin to score 1,000 points for a career. The senior has 1,298 career points entering the weekend to rank fourth in school history. He is also third all-time at Westminster with 145 career steals. Orchard also ranks in the school's top 10 in field goals made, field goals attempted, free throws made, free throws attempted, rebounds and assists.

Robertson Making an Impact
Tallon Robertson has made a significant impact of the Griffins front line this season. The junior is averaging 11.04 points per game while shooting 54.7 percent from the floor. Robertson has led the team in scoring in eight games and has reached double figures 14 times. He has recorded three double-doubles and his career-high 21 points over Saint Xavier (Ill.) led him to MVP honors at the Tom Byron Classic.

The Blake Show
Blake Skidmore is third on the team in scoring at 9.6 points per game and he is shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from beyond the arc. He has spent time this season as both a starter and a reserve. In 10 games as a starter, Skidmore is averaging 10.3 points per game and shooting 41 percent from the field. When coming off the bench, he averages 9.2 points and shoots 43.6 percent in 16 games.

Crashing the Glass
Senior Alex Drecksel is the team's leading rebounder at 6.39 rebounds per game. He ranks sixth in the Frontier in rebounding and second in the league by grabbing 2.96 offensive rebounds per night. Drecksel grabs 15.4 percent of all available rebounds while he is on the floor with a 13.9 percent on the offensive end. His 77 offensive rebounds rank second in school history for a season and he needs to average 2.67 per game over the remaining three games on the schedule to set the school record. He is fourth in team history with 141 career offensive rebounds and 10th with 307 total rebounds.

Massey Ratings
The Griffins have slipped to No. 13 in this week's Massey Ratings. Westminster is at No. 7 in the power rating and they sit 17th in offense and 24th in defense. They have played the eighth-toughest schedule according to the computers and still rank second overall among team from the Frontier Conference.

Frontier Conference Tournament
The 2013 Frontier Conference Tournament will be played from Feb. 27–Mar. 5 at the home site of the highest seed in each game. The top six teams in the final conference standings qualify for the tournament with the top two teams receiving a bye into the semi-finals. Entering the week, Westminster sits in the No. 5 position and would play at the No. 4 seed in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Feb. 27. For more information about the conference tournament, visit WestminsterGriffins.com/playoffs.

Airing on Altitude
Westminster's games at Great Falls (Mont.) (Feb. 15) and Carroll (Mont.) (Feb. 21) will be broadcast live in HD on the Altitude Sports Network. Altitude Sports is available within a 10-State territory of the Rocky Mountain Region including: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Northern New Mexico, Northeast Nevada and Southwest South Dakota. Altitude can be found in Utah on Comcast channel 61, Dish Network channel 410 and DirecTV channel 681.

Looking Ahead
Next week the Griffins will begin the Frontier Conference Tournament. They will play a quarterfinal game on Wednesday, Feb. 27, however the site and opponent won't be determined until after this week's games.