Box Score SALT LAKE CITY – The 19th-ranked Westminster College men's basketball team dropped a home game for the first time since Nov. 1 with a 74-65 loss to Montana Western on Saturday evening in the Behnken Field House.

Leading 10-5 less than seven minutes into the contest, Westminster (11-8, 4-2 Frontier) would see Montana Western go on a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to take a lead they wouldn't surrender the rest of the night. After a Blake Skidmore three tied the game at 15-15 with 8:50 on the first half clock, Western (11-6, 4-2) mounted a 13-5 run in which they limited the Griffins to 1-of-7 shooting.

"Western came in and played a great game today," Westminster head coach Adam Hiatt said of the opponent. "They took advantage of our poor energy to start the game and rode that to a big lead."

The Bulldogs would hold Westminster to 36 percent shooting in the first half and took a 35-26 lead into the locker room. The Griffins had just nine baskets in the opening half and only six points in the paint for a team that averages nearly 32 per game down low.

Westminster scored the first five points of the second half to get within four only to see the visitors post a 16-1 run over the next 3:15 to lead 51-32 with 15:08 on the clock. When Kurtis Parsons made a three at the 11:37 mark, Western held its largest lead of that night at 20. 

After Casey Evans gave the Griffins a spark with 11 points during an 18-6 run the lead was down to seven with 3:56 on the clock. However, Western would get a three-point-play from Jordan Overstreet and then make free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Skidmore led all scorers in the game with 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting. He made three treys and finished with two steals and one assist. Evans finished with those 11 points as did Tallon Robertson who also grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds. Colton Moon chipped in nine points, seven assists and six steals.

The Griffins never got it going from the field and finished the game at 37.7 percent. They had just 20 points in the paint and were outscored by the UMW bench, 42-16. Western shot 56.9 percent from the field and made 9-of-17 (52.9%) from beyond the arc. Westminster did grab 11 offensive rebounds which they scored 15 points from.

Parson led the Bulldogs with 16 points off the bench. He was 6-of-8 shooting and made four of his six 3-pointers. Maazin Butler and Tyler Miller had 11 points apiece with Connor Woodwill scoring 10 points.

Westminster will be back in action on Thurs. when they welcome Rocky Mountain (Mont.) into the Behnken Field House for a 7:30 p.m. MST tipoff.