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SALT LAKE CITY – The 19th-ranked Westminster College men's basketball team is back in the Behnken Field House on Sat. when they welcome Montana Western to Salt Lake City. The Griffins only game of the week features an earlier tip time of 4 p.m. MST.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Saturday's game will be carried live on Griffins TV and Comcast 6 in northern Utah. Mike Lageschulte will handle the play-by-play with Lance Barton as the analyst. Live stats will also be available for the contest. Links for all of the live features can be found by
clicking here.
GRIFFIN NOTES
Westminster returns home at 11-7 on the season and they are leading the Frontier Conference with a 4-1 record in league contests. They have posted a 4-1 mark at home this season and have won four straight in the Behnken Field House. The Griffins have won seven consecutive home conference games dating back to a Jan. 10, 2013 loss to Great Falls (Mont.).
For the season, the Griffins are averaging 71.83 points per game while shooting 45.7 percent from the field. From beyond the arc, the Griffins are making 33.6 percent of their attempts and they shoot 64.2 percent at the foul line. They are handing out 11.83 assists per outing with a 0.92 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Defensively, Westminster allows the opposition to 66.17 points per game and they rank 10th in the NAIA in that department. The Griffins limit opponents to 45.7 percent shooting and 33 percent from beyond the arc. Westminster is 10th nationally with 177 total steals as they force 17.11 turnovers per outing.
Seniors
Tallon Robertson and
Blake Skidmore are the top two scorers on the team as they combine to average 31.17 points per game. Robertson is scoring 16.89 points per night and is second in the Frontier by collecting 7.28 rebounds per game. Skidmore scores 14.28 points per game and is shooting 41 percent from three.
Colton Moon leads the team with 56 assists and 40 steals.
OFFENSE IS EFFICIENT
While the Griffins are scoring just 71.8 points per game, they have been efficient with their possessions as they are averaging 113 points per 100 possessions. They shoot 45.7 percent from the field for the season, but they have shot 54.8 percent in the past four games. During that time, Westminster is averaging 75.5 points per game and also shooting 42.6 percent from three.
STINGY ON DEFENSE
Westminster has been excellent on the defensive end this season and they currently place 10th in the NAIA in scoring defense by holding the opposition to 66.17 points per game. They are giving up 87.2 points per 100 defensive possessions and forcing opponents into 41.8 percent shooting – 26th in the NAIA. The Griffins rank 18th in the country at 9.83 steals per game and 10th by getting 177 total steals.
HALFTIME LEADER IS THE WINNER
Last Friday's game at Great Falls marked the first time this season that the team holding the lead at halftime didn't go on to win this season. Westminster had been 9-0 in that situation before Friday, and they are now 10-1 with the halftime advantage. The Griffins are also 9-0 when leading with five minutes left in regulation and 2-7 when trailing at that mark.
BACK IN THE POLLS
The Griffins returned to the Top 25 in the NAIA Coaches' Poll at No. 19 when it was released on Tuesday. This was the first time they have been in the poll this season and snaps a string of seven consecutive polls they were not in the Top 25 dating back to Feb. 12, 2013. Westminster has now been ranked a total of 66 times in the program's history and theyhave a 178-75 record when playing as a ranked team.
RUN THROUGH ROBERTSON
Senior
Tallon Robertson has been the focal point of the Griffin offense this season. The forward is averaging 16.78 points per game this season to rank sixth in the Frontier Conference. He scored 21 points in the loss at UGF on Fri. before scoring 24 in the upset of then-No. 15 Montana State-Northern on Sat. Robertson has scored in double figures 15 times and reach the 20-point plateau seven times.
Robertson ranks 15th in the NAIA by shooting 57.5 percent and his 7.28 rebounds per game is 46th nationally. He has pulled down double-digit rebounds on six occasions with five double-doubles. His 14 blocked shots is 47th-most in the country and he is third in the Frontier at 0.78 blocks per game.
SKIDMORE A STARTER
Blake Skidmore is second on the team and 13th in the country by scoring 14.28 points per game. He has been coming on strong as of late, scoring 16.8 points per game over the last five contests. Skidmore has scored in double figures in all five of those games, including 22 at Carroll (Mont.) on Jan. 2 and a season-high 23 at MSU-Northern last Sat. He has been in double figures 13 times during the season with five 20-point performances.
FOURTH WITH 50
With the win at Montana Western on Dec. 7, head coach
Adam Hiatt became the fourth coach in school history to guide the team to 50 victories. In his third season as the head coach, Hiatt has compiled a 24-26 overall record for a .675 winning percentage. He joins Howard Richardson, Tom Steinke and Tommy Connor as coaches to surpass 50 victories as head coach at Westminster. Steinke, a member of the Westminster Hall of Fame, set the school record by earing win No. 50 in just the 69th game he coached.
LOOKING AHEAD
Westminster remains at home next week for games with Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Jan. 23 and Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) on Jan. 25. Both games will begin at 7:30 p.m. MST in the Behnken Field House.
