SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster men's basketball team picked up its signature win of the season with an 84-78 win over No. 14 Fort Lewis on Friday night in the Behnken Field House.
 
Westminster (16-7, 16-5 RMAC) shot 56.6 percent from the field to earn the win. The eliminated Fort Lewis (23-5, 18-4) from a chance at winning the RMAC regular season title outright, and now the Skyhawks must hope for a Colorado Miens home loss on Saturday to earn a share of the crown.
 
Fort Lewis has the early lead and were head 17-11 with 11:18 to play in the first half. The Griffins got going with a Mason Smith dunk to ignite a 14-4 run that put them in front by four. The teams would trade leads into the second half and with 18:29 to play they were level at 46-46.
 
The Griffins would take control of the game over the next eight minutes of play with runs of 11-1 and 13-5. The second ended with a Casey Evans layup and a 70-57 lead with 10:26 to play. Joshua Blaylock would score seven points during an 11-4 spurt for the visitors that trimmed the Griffin lead to 74-68 with 4:41 on the clock.
 
Blaylock hit a three with 42.1 seconds on the clock that pulled FLC within 81-78. Smith followed with a pair of free throws and a Blaylock three rimmed out to snap the Griffins 5-game losing streak to ranked opponents.
 
Westminster bolstered their shooting night by hitting on 59.3 percent in the first half. They added 7 of 17 from beyond the arc and had a 40-30 edge on the boards.
 
Zerrion Payton tied his career high – set earlier this season against Fort Lewis – with 23 points on 7 of 10 shooting. Payton hit three triples and grabbed seven rebounds with seven assists. Dayon Goodman added a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Casey Evans had 15 points and seven boards.
 
The Griffins held Fort Lewis to 40.3 percent shooting. The Skyhawks made 12 of 34 from three and scored 30 points from 17 Westminster turnovers.
 
Blaylock finished the game with 30 points to lead three Skyhawks in double figures.
 
Westminster will close out the season on Saturday when they host Adams State at 7:30 p.m. They will honor their senior class in a ceremony prior to pregame warmups.