SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster men's basketball team has two crucial Frontier Conference road games this weekend in Montana. Westminster plays at Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Thursday in Billings, Mont. before making the trip to Helena, Mont. to face Carroll (Mont.) on Saturday. Both games are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. MT tipoff.
 
On the Web: Both games of the trip will be shown live on the web through each school's athletic You Tube channel. There will also be live stats available for the game at Carroll. Links for all live features can be found at WestminsterGriffins.com/live.
 
Griffin Fast Break: Westminster returns to the road at 10-10 overall this season and they are currently in a four-way tie for fourth-place in the Frontier Conference with a 3-4 record. They have won two straight games overall, but are looking to snap a four-game losing skid on the road. They split the two games with Rocky Mountain and Carroll last month in Salt Lake City, falling at the buzzer to Carroll before knocking off Rocky.
 
Offense Notebook: The Griffins enter play this week scoring 74.40 points per game which ranks sixth in the Frontier Conference. They are 50th nationally by shooting 44.5 percent from the field and 28th by making 70 percent at the foul line. The team makes 7.85 threes per outing – 26th in the NAIA – and they rank 21st in the country by shooting 37.4 percent from beyond the arc. The Griffins distribute 14.75 assists per game with a 1.08 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
Defense Notebook: Westminster is giving up 71.15 points per game on the season and they hold the opposition to 45.2 percent shooting. They have held 11 opponents under 70 points, including five in conference play. Griffin opponents shoot 34.7 percent from beyond the arc and Westminster grabs 35 rebounds per game. They are forcing 16.2 turnovers per outing and generate 8.75 steals per game to rank 26th in the country.
 
Leaders: Quincy Bair leads three Griffins that average in double figures at 13.2 points per game. Jordan Pryor averages 12.45 points per game and had made a team-high 50 threes. Kenny Woodard adds 11.75 points per game and leads the team with 48 assists. Colton Moon has a team-leading 44 stelas while Casey Evans leads the way with 11 blocked shots.
 
Looking Back: Westminster picked up two home wins last weekend to get themselves back into the conference playoff race. The Griffins claimed a wire-to-wire 69-64 win against Montana tech last Thursday with four players in double figures. They then rallied from four down with four minutes to play to defeat Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), 67-62, behind 41 combined points from Bair and Pryor.
 
Frontier Conference Race: At the halfway points of the Frontier Conference season little has been decided in the race to be one of the six teams to make the conference tournament. Great Falls (Mont.) and Montana Western are currently tied for the top spot at 5-2 with Great Falls holding the earlier tie-breaker. At 4-3, Montana Tech sits in third in front of a log jam of four teams with 3-4 records. Entering this week's action, Lewis-Clark State and Carroll would occupy the fourth and fifth positions with Montana State-Northern edging Westminster for the six spot. Rocky Mountain is still alive for a playoff spot in eighth at 2-5.
 
Home Dominance: Westminster has been tough to beat in the Behnken Field House since it opened in 2006. While the Griffins have always been good at home, going 171-34 (.834) since the program was reinstated in 1999, they have compiled a 106-19 (.848) mark in their current home. The Griffins are 7-4 in the Behnken Field House this season and have won three straight at home.
 
Bombs Away: The Griffins have been taking advantage of the 3-point line this season, ranking 21st in the NAIA by making 7.85 triples per game. They shoot 37.4 percent from beyond the arc to rank 21st in the nation. The team scores 31.7 percent of their total points from deep while making at least seven treys in a game 13 times. Pryor leads the team by making 2.50 threes per game – 31st in the nation – and he is making 41 percent from three.
 
Extra Possessions: Westminster has done a good job of creating extra possessions this season by forcing the opposition into 16.2 turnovers per game. They rank 26th in the country by getting 8.75 steals per game and their 2.70 turnover margin is 18th nationally. The Griffins are scoring 19.4 points per game from turnovers which accounts for 26 percent of their total scoring average.
 
Balance from Bair: Quincy Bair has been the most all-around player for the Griffins this season and he currently scores a team-best 13.20 points per game. The junior is shooting 49.2 percent from the field and he has scored in double figures 14 times, including a career-high 32 at Montana State-Northern on Jan. 24. He has 25 threes and shoots 50 percent from beyond the arc while also grabbing 3.0 rebounds per contest. Bair has added 41 assists, 23 steals and eight blocked shots to his stat line.
 
Performance from Pryor: Jordan Pryor was named preseason all-conference after being selected as the Frontier Sixth-Man of the Year last season. Pryor is currently scoring 12.45 points per game and making 2.50 threes per outing to rank 31st in the NAIA. He has scored in double figures 12 times on the year made at least three treys in a game nine times this season. Pryor has scored 249 points this season and now ranks 22nd in team history with 677 career points.
 
Spark off the Bench: Kenny Woodard has given the team a scoring spark off the bench this season. He is currently third on the team in scoring at 11.75 points per night and he is shooting 31.9 percent from beyond the arc. Woodard has scored in double figures 13 times on the year and he also leads the team with 48 assists. He shoots 87.9 percent at the foul line to rank fifth in the NAIA.
 
Stealing the Record: Colton Moon enters the week fourth in school history with 151 career steals. He is 14 thefts away from becoming the school's all-time leader in the category and he would need to average 2.0 steals per game over the final seven regular season games to set the record. This season, Moon is 14th in the NAIA with 44 steals and he also ranks 14th with an average of 2.20 steals per game. He has recorded at least one steal in all but two games this season and has multiple steals in a game 12 times during the year.
 
Crashing the Boards: Nick Jenson leads the team this season with 141 rebounds and he sits 48th in the NAIA by grabbing 7.05 rebounds per game. The senior has four games with at least 10 rebounds and he has led the team in rebounding during 14 games this season. Jenson collects 2.3 offensive rebounds per game on the year and he ranks first in school history by grabbing 2.29 offensive rebounds per game in his career. He currently ranks 10th in school history with 119 offensive rebounds and 326 total rebounds.
 
Follow the Griffins: Fans are encouraged to follow the Westminster men's basketball team on their Instagram and Twitter feeds for fun behind the scenes information from the team. You can also get all of the latest news about the Griffins through the Westminster Athletics social media outlets. You can find all of the social media information at WestminsterGriffins.com.
 
Looking Ahead: Westminster will open a three-game home stand on Feb. 14 when they welcome Montana Western to the Behnken Field House. The game has an early start time of 4 p.m. MT and tickets are available by visiting WestminsterGriffins.com/tickets.