Griffins having a good season by relying on strong defense

With the return of Frontier Conference Player of the Year Danny Reeder and first team all-conference forward Nick Booth, the Westminster men's basketball team was gearing up for a big season.

With a preseason ranking of 13th in the NAIA poll, the Griffins ran into some bad luck just before Thanksgiving. It came in the form of a season-ending knee injury to Booth.

The monumental loss was tough for the team to get over, but the Griffins have responded to the misfortune.

"We've been fortunate to win five of the last six games without Nick. We've had guys step up and fill that role," Westminster coach Tommy Connor said. "Our challenge in league play every night becomes much harder."

Through seven games, Booth was averaging 11 points and four rebounds per game.

Connor has used several players, including Danny Stosich and Allen Schowengerdt, to try to fill the void. Since reinstituting Westminster's basketball program in 1999, Connor has a record of 125-67 overall.

The former Ute guard has led the Griffins to the NAIA National Tournament for the past five seasons. With Booth gone for the year, the race for the conference championship is up for grabs.

Before league play gets under way, the Griffins (8-5) leave for some fun in the sun. The South Padre Island Shootout is the team's last opportunity to fine tune things before they start conference play on Jan. 6 at Lewis-Clark State College.

The Griffins' last game was an 83-82 home victory over Northwest Nazarene University back on Dec. 9. With some two weeks in between games, the coach is looking for this team to shake off any rust that may have accumulated.

"It gives us some games between the Christmas break and the beginning of league play, which are hard games to get," Connor said.

Westminster is gunning for its fifth conference title in the last eight seasons. The Griffins rely heavily on senior guard Reeder and 6-foot-7 center Nate Sanchez. The big man has been averaging around 10 points per game and has shown good potential since returning from an LDS mission.

Senior Lance Barton should help on the boards. At 6-foot-8, he's the tallest player on the team. Reeder is playing the most minutes of any player on the team. The senior averages 33 minutes per game and scores 12 points per game.