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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's basketball team travels to Dillon, Mont. for a Frontier Conference game against Montana Western on Saturday. The action between the 12th-ranked Griffins and Montana Western will tipoff at 7:30 p.m. from Straugh Gymnasium.

Game Coverage
Saturday's game will be streamed live on the web through the Montana Western Livestream page. Wally Feldt handles the play-by-play for the Bulldogs. UMW will also have live stats available for the contest. Links for both of these live features can be found in the calendar section of WestminsterGriffins.com.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster heads into Saturday's game at 20-4 overall this season after two home wins over Rocky Mountain (Mont.) and then-No. 3 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) last week. The Griffins have won seven straight games and are in a three-way tie for first in the Frontier Conference at 7-3.

The Griffins are 10-3 in games played away from the Behnken Field House this season and they have a 7-2 record in road games. Westminster has won two straight on the road and they are 10-2 on Saturdays this year. They have a 15-3 mark when holding the lead at halftime and have just one loss in 19 games when the lead with five minutes remaining in regulation.

At 81.22 points per game, Westminster is second in the league in scoring average and they place 16th in the NAIA. They have scored above 70 points in eight of the last 10 games played and twice went above 90 during the stretch. The Griffins rank 17th in the country by shooting 47.3 percent from beyond the arc and are 13th in assists and 15.44 per game. Westminster leads the NAIA with an 8.44 turnover margin and they place sixth with a 1.26 assist-to-turnover ratio.

On the defensive end, the Griffins are holding the opposition to 63.91 points per game. That ranks 13th in the country and they also place eighth in scoring margin with a differential of 16.67 points per contest. Westminster opponents shoot 42.1 percent from the floor and 31 percent from beyond the arc. The Griffins are sixth nationally with 11.83 steals per game and they force 20.9 turnovers per game.

Against the Opposition
Westminster holds a 24-7 lead in the all-time series against Montana Western. The Griffins won the earlier match-up this season, 84-63, on Dec. 1 in the Behnken Field House. Despite that loss, Western has won three of the last five meetings and the Bulldogs have won five straight in Dillon.

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 305-129 record in the 14 years for a .703 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 last Saturday, 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 (+8.44) thanks to forcing 20.9 turnovers per game. They are coming up with 11.83 steals a night to rank sixth in the NAIA and established a new school record with 272 steals so far this year. The Griffins score 23.3 points per game from opponent turnovers which accounts for 28.7 percent of the team's 81.2 points per game. In contrast, Griffin opponents are scoring just 10.3 points from turnover per game or 16.1 percent of their total points.

Attacking the Paint
The Griffins have been real good at scoring in the paint this season. They average 39.4 points per game down low which helps with the 52.3 percent they shoot on 2-point field goals this season. The 39.4 points is 48.5 percent of the Griffins season average and is 11.1 points per game more than the opposition scores in the paint.

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 13.48 points per game and he has scored in double figures in 17 games this season and six straight. He shoots 46.6 percent from the field and leads the team with 60 assists and 44 steals. Orchard's 1.91 steals per game rank 44th in the NAIA and he is 38th with 44 total steals.

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 1,250 career points entering the weekend to rank fourth in school history. He is also third all-time at Westminster with 141 career steals. Orchard needs to average 22.5 points and 3.3 steals per game over the team's remaining six games on the schedule to become the school's all-time leader in each category.

Robertson Making an Impact
Tallon Robertson has made a significant impact of the Griffins front line this season. The junior is averaging 11.5 points per game while shooting 56.2 percent from the floor which ranks 11th in the NAIA. Robertson has led the team in scoring in eight games and has reached double figures 14 times, including five straight games. Robertson has three double-doubles and his career-high 21 points over Saint Xavier (Ill.) led him to MVP honors at the Tom Byron Classic.

Into the Lineup
Blake Skidmore has transitioned to the starting with four games in double figures in the last eight games he has started. The junior is third on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game and he is shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from beyond the arc. He came off the bench in 14 of the team's first 15 games and averaged 10.4 points per game in those contests. In nine games as a starter, Skidmore is averaging 10.9 points per game and shoots 41 percent from the floor.

Crashing the Glass
Senior Alex Drecksel is the team's leading rebounder at 6.44 rebounds per game. He ranks sixth in the Frontier in rebounding and second in the league by grabbing 2.91 offensive rebounds per night. Drecksel grabs 15.3 percent of all available rebounds while he is on the floor with a 13.5 percent on the offensive end. His 67 offensive rebounds rank sixth in school history for a season and he needs to average three per game over the remaining six games on the schedule to set the school record. He is seventh in team history with 129 career offensive rebounds and 10th with 289 total rebounds.

Massey Ratings
The Griffins moved up three positions to No. 3 in the latest edition of the Massey Ratings. The national computer ratings have Westminster with a rating of 0.93 while having them second in the power rating at 18.88. They are rated 11th in defense and 15th in offense while having played the eighth-toughest schedule. The Griffins are the top-rated team from the Frontier Conference with Lewis-Clark State coming in at No. 8.

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. 2 position and would receive a bye into the semi-finals where they would host the lowest remaining seed in the Behnken Field House on Mar. 2.

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 and HD on 681-1.

Looking Ahead
It is back to the road for the Griffins next week with two games in Montana. The trip begins on Feb. 15 at Great Falls with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff and then concludes with an 8 p.m. tip at Montana State-Northern on Feb. 16.