DILLON, Mont. – The Westminster men's basketball team suffered a 73-64 loss in a Frontier Conference game at ninth-ranked Montana Western on Saturday evening.
 
Westminster drops back to .500 on the season with an 8-8 overall record. They also slip to 1-2 in Frontier Conference play. Montana Western improves to 15-3 and 3-0 with their 13th straight victory.
 
The Griffins would shoot just 33.3 percent from the floor in the game and finish 6-of-21 (28.6 percent) from beyond the arc. They only made nine baskets in the first half that ended with Montana Western leading 37-29. The home squad shot 51.2 percent in the game to help overcome the 20 turnovers created by the Griffins.
 
Casey Evans led the Griffins in scoring with 14 points behind a perfect 8-of-8 at the foul line. He also grabbed five rebounds and had three steals. William Walker led a 24-point effort from the bench with 12 points and he got four rebounds (three offensive). Quincy Bair and Jordan Pryor scored nine points apiece with Nick Jenson adding eight. Colton Moon had five assists and three steals.
 
Montana Western never trailed in the game and it was only tied for a brief time at 3-3. Leading 11-8 midway through the first half, Western hit a 9-2 spurt to open a 10-point advantage. They had the lead to 11 with 40 seconds left in the half before Bair made a three late in the clock to send the game to halftime at 37-29.
 
Westminster posted 12 of the first 17 points of the second half and they had the deficit to 42-41 with 15:16 remaining. Eight straight points from the Bulldogs put them back in control and they hit the largest lead of the game, 57-46, with 10:34 to play. Evans made a pair of free throws with 3:01 left to get the Griffins back within two, but UMW made its free throws down the stretch to hang on for the win.
 
Stephen McCall led three Bulldogs in double figures with 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Jordan Overstreet added 18 points while Dexter William, Jr., had 16.
 
The Griffins will be back in action on Jan. 23 when they play at Great Falls (Mont.) at 7:30 p.m. MT in the middle game of this three-game road swing.