SALT LAKE CITY - Westminster men's basketball (1-3) will host its home opener this Friday against Central Washington (1-1) beginning at 7 p.m. (MDT) in the Behnken Field House, followed by a Saturday night game against Western Oregon (1-3) also tipping off at 7 p.m. (MDT). Westminster Athletics will also host a pair of neutral contests as Western Oregon and Fort Lewis kick off the weekend of hoops at the Behnken Field House on Friday at 5 p.m. (MDT) while Central Washington and Fort Lewis are set play the first game of the day on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Game Info:
- Both of this weekend's men's basketball games will be hosted at the Behnken Field House. General admission into all games is $8.
- Tickets for all home basketball games can be purchased at westminstergriffins.com/tickets.
- Current Westminster College students, faculty and staff are offered free admission into all WC home events.
- All Westminster basketball games are available for FREE streaming on the RMAC Network. Viewers can watch live or on-demand online at rmacnetwork.com/Westminster or on the RMAC Network app which is available from all major app stores.
About the Griffins:
- Probable Starters:
- G Matt Kitzman - SEASON: 6.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.3 apg
- G Reme Torbert - CAREER: 22 starts, 10.3 ppg, .417 fg, .404 3PT
- G Brantzen Blackner - SEASON: 2.3 apg
- F Brayden Johnson - CAREER: 18 starts, 8.2 ppg, .564 fg pct
- F Yusuf Mohamed - SEASON: 13.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, .545 fg pct, .429 3PT
- Westminster suffered a pair of setbacks last weekend, losing 81-71 and 78-74 in back-to-back games at Lake Superior State.
- Westminster led by as many as seven in the first half of Friday's loss at LSSU but gave up seven second-half three-pointers in the 10-point loss.
- The Griffins had a combined 69 points off of the bench last weekend as Lewis Johnson had a team-high 18 points on Friday and Jarrett Jordan scored 16 in 24 minutes off the bench on Saturday.
- Westminster suffered from a 22-3 advantage in points off of turnovers for Lake Superior State in Friday's loss.
- The Griffins cut their turnovers in half in the second game at LSSU and the two teams finished even at 7-7 in points off of turnovers.
About the Wildcats:
- Probable Starters:
- 14 Tori Maeda
- 21 Kizzah Maltezo
- 23 Samantha Bowman
- 24 Kassidy Malcolm
- 32 Jenna Troy
- Central Washington had its three games that were scheduled to be played in Burnaby, B.C., canceled.
- CWU Athletics cited "an abundance of caution for the health and safety of student-athletes and staff,"as the reason for the cancelations.
- CWU was scheduled to play at Simon Fraser against SFU, Langara, and Capilano University.
- The Wildcats split their first two games of the season in Monterey, Calif., with a 74-63 win over CSU Monterey Bay and an 88-74 loss to CSU San Bernardino.
- CWU went 2-4 last year after the 2020-21 GNAC season was canceled and was 17-11 (10-10 GNAC) back in 2019-20.
- Westminster won the only all-time meeting between the two sides, 100-97 back in Nov. of 2018 in Seattle, Wash.
About the Wolves:
- Probable Starters:
- 30 Cameron Cranston
- 34 John Morrill-Keeler
- 12 RJ Veliz
- 00 Yosani Clay
- 02 Collin Warmouth
- The Wolves had their 2020-21 season canceled and went 19-8 (13-7 GNAC) in their last season of action back in 2019-20.
- Western Oregon dropped its first three games of the season before finding its first win last Saturday at Sonoma State.
- Western Oregon will play Humboldt State Univ. on Tuesday night....
- Westminster is 0-2 all-time against Western Oregon. Western Oregon won by double digits in 2016 and 2018 both in St. George, Utah.
2020-21 Year in Review:
- Westminster posted its best conference finish since becoming eligible for postseason play in 2020-21 with nine wins on an abbreviated, conference-only schedule.
- Westminster went 5-3 at home last season, finishing 4-7 away from the Behnken Field House.
- The Griffins had a pair of all-conference performers as Joey Andrews was named Second Team All-RMAC while Matt Kitzman received honorable mention all-conference recognition.
- Westminster won five of seven to begin the year before hitting a five-game losing skid mid-season. The Griffins snapped the streak with a 20-point win on the road at S.D. Mines and captured a 106-103 overtime win vs. CSU Pueblo the following weekend.
- Westminster split games on its final two weekends of the season, playing one of its best games of the season offensively, shooting over 60 percent from the field as a team in a 94-84 win vs. Western Colorado on Senior Night in..the regular-season finale.
Home Sweet Home:
- Westminster is 224-58 (.794) since the program was reinstated in 1999 at home and 163-43 (.791) since moving into the Behnken Field House in 2005.
- Westminster is 19-3 all-time in home openers and 13-2 in home openers at the Behnken Field House.
- The Griffins have won their last six home openers dating back to 2015 and beat MSU Denver, 56-55, in last season's home opener.
Up Next:
Westminster will be back on the road for the beginning of the conference season next week as it travels to Denver to take on MSU Denver on Sat., Dec. 4, and Colorado Christian on Sun., Dec. 5.
Follow us on social media (@WCGriffins) or visit westminstergriffins.com for all the latest Westminster Athletics scores, news and updates.
