RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Westminster men's basketball team got off to a horrible start and had its five-game winning streak come to an end with a 61-59 loss at South Dakota Mines on Friday night in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.   
 
Westminster (13-9, 9-9 RMAC) didn't score for the first 7:50 of the game and trailed 22-0 and then by as many as 25 in the first half. South Dakota Mines (8-14, 6-12) would maintain the lead the rest of the night despite the Griffins getting within one-possession late in the game.
 
Despite just shooting 22.2 percent in the first half, the Griffins were able to hang around by making 8 of 10 at the foul line. They closed the half with a 14-4 run to cut the deficit to 35-20 at intermission.
 
The Griffins opened the second half with a 14-6 burst to get within 41-34 at the 12:55 mark. They got within 59-56 on a Zerrion Payton basket with 29.7 seconds remaining. After the Hardrockers missed a pair of free throws, Casey Evans had a potential tying 3-pointer fall short with 13.1 to play.
 
SDSMT got the lead back to five with free throws at the other end when Brandon Warr grabbed an offensive rebound and layup to make it 61-58 with 4.3 seconds to play. After forcing a turnover, Evans was fouled with 1.3 to play. After making the first, he was called for a violation while intentionally missing the second. The home team then ran out the clock to snap their nine-game losing streak.
 
Neither team generated much at the offensive end as they combined for just 36 made baskets. The Griffins shot 33.3 percent for the game and they held SDSMT to 37.8 percent and just five second-half baskets. Westminster committed only eight turnovers and they scored 21 points from 19 SDSMT turns.
 
Payton led the Griffins with 21 points on 9 of 15 shooting. It was his second straight 20-point outing and third of the season. He also had three assists and four steals. Warr finished with 14 points and nine rebounds. Jordan Pryor scored 10 points off the bench while Marcus Bryce grabbed 11 rebounds.
 
Konor Kulas led the home squad with 17 points and 17 rebounds. They also got a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds from Marco Pascolo.
 
The Griffins will complete their four-game road swing on Saturday when they face Black Hills State at 7:30 p.m. MT in Spearfish, S.D. The game will be broadcast live on Griffins TV at portal.stretchinternet.com/Westminster.