SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster men's basketball team secured a season sweep of New Mexico Highlands with an 86-74 win on Saturday night in the Behnken Field House.
 
Westminster (14-7, 14-5 RMAC) rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit by scoring 49 points in the second half to remain in fourth-place in the RMAC standings. They are three games behind conference leader, Fort Lewis, with three games to play.
 
New Mexico Highlands (9-15, 7-12 RMAC) had all the momentum early as they used a 9-0 run to take a 20-9 lead with 13:28 to play in the first half. The Cowboys maintained that advantage before the Griffins closed the half with six of the final eight points to trail 44-37 at intermission.
 
The Griffins started to take control of the game midway through the second half and they took the lead at 63-61 with 9:42 to play when Casey Evans hit a three to cap a 13-3 run. That spurt would grow to 30-7 over an 11-minute span of the second half and ended with a Zerrion Payton layup with 3:10 remaining and the Griffins in front 80-65.
 
Westminster shot 59.4 percent in the second half to finish the game at 49.2 percent. They converted 24 of 26 attempts at the foul line and had a 38-26 edge in points in the paint.
 
Payton (21 points) and Evans (20 points) combined for 41 points to lead four Griffins in double figures. Payton went a perfect 10 of 10 at the foul line with five rebounds and three assists. Evans added five rebounds and five assists.
 
Dayon Goodman gave the Griffins 17 points and eight rebounds while Marcus Bryce went for 15 points and five boards.
 
NMHU shot 44.6 percent from the field and hit 10 of 20 from beyond the arc. The Griffins forced the Cowboys into 18 turnovers and turned them into 17 points.
 
Ron Lawton led NMHU with 23 points and Marlon Johnson added 20 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Griffins have now won nine of their past 10 games and will be back in action on February 18 when they host Regis at 7:30 p.m. in the Behnken Field House.