The Westminster men's basketball team is back home this weekend for a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games. Westminster will host Western State Colorado on Friday and then Colorado State – Pueblo comes to town on Saturday.
 
Both games will begin at 7:30 p.m. MT in the Behnken Field House. Tickets for the two games are available at WestminsterGriffins.com/tickets.
 
3 THINGS
>These are two of the final four home games of the season for the Griffins
>After starting 6-0, Westminster is 3-8 since
>The Griffins are 5-5 at home this season and they have dropped five straight
 
COVERING THE GRIFFINS
Both of this week's games can will be carried live on Griffins TV. Mike Lageschulte calls the action with Head Coach Norm Parrish appearing on both the Griffins Pregame and Griffins Postgame Shows. Griffins TV is available online and is optimized for mobile devices in the Game Central portal available at portal.stretchinternet.com/Westminster.
 
You can also follow the action of both games with live stats available at
sidearmstats.com/westminster/mbball.
 
FOLLOWING WESTMINSTER MEN'S BASKETBALL
Make sure to like Westminster Griffins on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and You Tube for the latest news about the Griffins. For updates of the game action, make sure to follow @wc_griffins on Twitter.
 
Fans can stay connected with Westminster men's basketball team by following @griffinbasketball on Instagram.
 
ABOUT WESTMINSTER
Westminster returns home with a 9-8 overall record and a 5-8 mark in RMAC action. The Griffins are currently tied for fifth in the Rocky Division and tied for 10th in the overall race. They have gone 5-5 at home this season and are 3-7 in the past 10 games overall.
 
The Griffins rank 12th in the RMAC by scoring 70.2 points per game and they are fourth in the league by holding the opposition to 71.8 points per night. The team is shooting 43.2 percent from the field and they are third in the RMAC in holding opponents to 42.9 percent shooting. Westminster is fourth in the league by making 75.1 percent at the foul line.
 
Four Griffins are averaging in double figures on the season with Casey Evans leading the way at 12.5 points per game. Zerrion Payton is scoring 12.3 points per night and he leads the Griffins with 107 rebounds and 66 assists. Kenny Woodard scores 10.9 points per game and Jordan Pryor adds 10.8.
 
Payton ranks fourth in the RMAC by posting 3.9 assists per game and seventh by grabbing 4.7 defensive rebounds per night. Marcus Bryce leads the team with 18 blocked shots and he is fifth in the league at 1.1 blocks per game.
 
40 YEARS OF HOOPS
This season marks the 40th year of men's basketball at Westminster dating back to the 1956-57 campaign. They played the 1,000 game in school history on November 27 against The Master's. Westminster has compiled a record of 635-379 for a .626 winning percentage.
 
LOOKING BACK
On a night they led for nearly 30 minutes of action, it was a second half scoring drought the led to Westminster losing at Chadron State College, 69-62, on Friday. The Griffins finished the game shooting 40.3 percent from the field with 15 assists and just 10 turnovers. Zerrion Payton led Westminster with 15 points. He also collected six rebounds, three assists, and two steals in the loss.
 
The Griffins snapped a season-long four-game losing streak with a 72-62 win at Regis on Saturday night. Westminster was 6 of 19 from beyond the arc and they had 18 assists on 24 field goals. They limited Regis to 38.8 percent shooting and the Rangers made 12 of 32 from three. Brandon Warr finished the game with 16 points to lead the Griffins
 
ABOUT WESTERN STATE COLORADO
The Mountaineers comes to town at 4-15 overall and 3-10 in conference play. They are 1-6 on the road this season and dropped eight of their past 10 games. Western State is allowing 84.8 points per game to rank last in the RMAC. Danny Hopkins leads the team in scoring at 13.0 points per game with Ben Beauchamp adding 12.7 per night.
 
ABOUT COLORADO STATE – PUEBLO
The ThunderWolves will start the week at 12-7 overall and 8-5 in the conference. They have gone 6-3 on the road this season and are 5-2 in their last seven games. CSU-Pueblo leads the conference by scoring 85.0 points per game and they make 11.3 threes per game. Chris Golden leads the team in scoring at 18.1 points per game.
 
SERIES NOTES
Westminster is a perfect 6-0 all-time against Western State and 3-0 in games played in SLC. The Griffins won the last meeting, 70-57, on November 2, 2013, in the Behnken Field House.
 
CSU-Pueblo won the only previous meeting with the Griffins, 91-80, on November 7, 2014, in the Behnken Field House.
 
EVANS SHINES
Casey Evans enters the week as the Westminster leader with 212 points. He is shooting 51.7 percent from the floor and has gone 22 of 57 (38.6 percent) from beyond the arc. Evans has scored at least 20 points in a game three times this season and he had a career high 22 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Colorado Mesa on December 5. Last week, Evans became the first Griffin men's basketball player to be named to the RMAC All-Academic First Team.
 
CHASING 1,000
Jordan Pryor will start the week 13th in team history with 895 career points and he is scoring 10.8 points per game this season. He needs to average 11.7 points per game to become the 10th Griffin the reach 1,000 for their career. He also ranks fourth all-time with 153 made threes while placing third with 436 attempts from beyond the arc.  Pryor leads the RMAC by shooting 94.4 percent at the foul line.
 
STAT SHEET STUFFER
Zerrion Payton has been doing a little of everything for the Griffins this season. The junior is second on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game and he has led the team in scoring five times. Payton also leads the team with 107 rebounds and 66 assists. He ranks fourth in the RMAC at 3.9 assists per game. Payton is one of only two players in the league to rank in the top-15 in rebounds, assists, and steals.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Westminster will play on the road the next two weekends and will be in New Mexico next weekend. The Griffins play at New Mexico Highlands on February 5, and then visit Western New Mexico on February 6.