SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Westminster men's basketball team moved above .500 for the first time this season as they completed a sweep at the Tom Byron Classic with a 69-68 win over Saskatchewan (Canada) on Tuesday evening at Murchison Gymnasium.
 
Westminster used 11 3-point field goals to win their fifth straight game and improve to 7-6 on the season. The Griffins were able to overcome 12 threes from Saskatchewan and they came up with a stop of the game's final possession to seal the victory.
 
Trailing 48-40 with 12:37 on the second half clock, the Griffins mounted a 10-0 run that was started and capped with threes by Kenny Woodard. Saskatchewan tied the game on the next possession before Jordan Pryor buried a three to put Westminster in front for good. The lead was one with 28 seconds when the Griffins forced a bad pass as time expired.
 
Woodard led the Griffins with a career-high 24 points by making 8-of-14 from the field with five triples. It was his second 20-point outing of the season and it came in 26 minutes off the bench. Pryor would add 18 points for the second straight game with three treys.
 
Westminster finished the game shooting 41.7 percent from the floor and 40.7 percent from beyond the arc. They were out-rebounded 45-31, but totaled 16 assists and only seven turnovers with just one turn in the second half. They limited Saskatchewan to 41.4 percent from the floor with 15 turnovers.
 
Casey Evans added 10 points for his seventh double-digit scoring effort of the year. He also tied Nick Jenson for the team lead with five rebounds.
 
Saskatchewan grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and they were led in scoring by 21 points from Evan Ostertag. Andrew Henry and Ben Baker scored 14 and 13 points respectively.
 
The Griffins will now turn their attention to Frontier Conference play with the league opener slated for Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m. MT against Carroll (Mont.) College in the Behnken Field House.