Westminster basketball: Quick start leads to Griffins win over Walla Walla

CALDWELL, Idaho – The 13th-ranked Westminster College men’s basketball team started fast and never looked back in an 85-44 win over Walla Walla (Wash.) on Friday afternoon at the Golden Rule Shootout.

Westminster (5-1) scored the first six points of the game and eventually pushed the run to 20-4 with 11:18 to play in the first half. The lead would never be less than 11 the rest of the way and would balloon to 43 late in the second half. The Griffins defense forced Walla Walla (0-9) into 29 turnovers and held them to 35.6 percent shooting with six blocked shots.

The Griffins shot 45.6 percent for the game and scored 40 points in the paint. They had a 36-6 edge in points off turnovers while scoring 16 fast break points. Westminster turned 14 offensive rebounds into 15 points and got a huge 52-point effort from the bench.

Blake Skidmore led all scorers with his 18 points off the bench. He shot 7-of-10 from the floor and had four steals and two assists. Jordan Bjornberg added a career-high 16 points in his 16 minutes off the bench. Bjornberg made six of his seven shots and grabbed three rebounds. Jordan Hayter was the only starter in double figures with 11.

Tyreek Luckett led the Wolves with 10 points and Ryan Spady added nine. Walla Walla held a 37-36 edge in rebounding with 12 coming on the offensive end.

Westminster will wrap-up the trip to Caldwell on Saturday when it faces the host College of Idaho at 7:30 p.m.