SALT LAKE CITY - The three-time defending Frontier Conference champion Westminster men's basketball team released the 2010-11 schedule on Monday. The Griffins will play 13 games at home in the Behnken Field House from November to February, including playing host for two tournaments. This schedule includes six teams that won at least 20 games last season and also six teams that qualified for the national championships.

2010-11 SCHEDULE

The season begins with the Westminster Tipoff Classic on November 5-6. The Griffins face San Diego Christian and national tournament team Olivet Nazarene during opening weekend. Rocky Mountain College is also in town that weekend to face the two teams in the early game each day of the tournament.

The next two weekends Westminster hits the road for the first time in the new year. They begin in Las Vegas for games against Vanguard and Fresno Pacific on November 12 and 13 respectively. Fresno Pacific advanced to the second round of last season's national championship. The next weekend, Westminster travels to Caldwell, Idaho for its annual appearance in the Golden Rule Shootout hosted by the College of Idaho. The Griffins open the event against Warner Pacific on November 20 and play the host College of Idaho on November 20.

It's back home for the Westminster Thanksgiving Classic on November 26 and 27. The Griffins welcome Warner Pacific and Colorado Christian to town. The Warner Pacific game is on November 26 while the Griffins face Colorado Christian on November 27. Warner Pacific qualified for the NAIA DII National Championship last season while Colorado Christian plays in the NCAA D2Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Montana Tech will face the opposite team of the Griffins in the early game each day.

Following a double-header with William Jessup in the Behnken Field on December 3 and 4, Westminster will travel to southern California for games against Point Loma Nazarene and Azusa Pacific. Westminster will face Point Loma Nazarene on December 18 in San Diego and then Azusa Pacific on December 20 in Azusa. APU lost in the NAIA National Championship title game and eliminated the Griffins in the second round of the tournament.

The year of 2010 comes to an end with games in Phoenix, Arizona at the Grand Canyon Classic. Westminster will play two games at the tournament and they are still waiting for the final pairings to be announced. The tournament will be hosted by Southwestern College.

The Frontier Conference schedule begins at home on January 6 against Montana Tech. The Griffins have won 19 straight contests against Tech. Montana Western comes to Salt Lake City on January 8 for a rematch of the 2010 Frontier Conference Tournament championship game. Western was the only conference team to defeat the Griffins last season.

Westminster travels to Helena, Montana to face Carroll College on January 13. Westminster is 16-11 all-time against Carroll and has won three straight. On January 15, Westminster visits Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana. The Griffins have won five straight against the 2009 NAIA National Champions.

A three-game home stand begins against Lewis-Clark State on January 22. After dropping both games with the Warriors in 2008, Westminster has now won four straight over LC. Great Falls is the opponent on January 27 in the Behnken Field House. Westminster has never lost to Great Falls in 25 meetings. The home stand concludes on January 29 against Montana State-Northern. The Griffins have currently won four straight over Northern.

The second half of the conference slate begins on February 4 at Montana Western. The road trip concludes on February 5 in Butte, Montana against Montana Tech. Rocky Mountain and Carroll are the visitors in games on February 10 and 12 respectively.

The regular season wraps up with three straight road games starting in Lewiston, Idaho against Lewis-Clark State College on February 19. The final trip of the season begins on February 25 against MSU-Northern on February 25 and concludes in Great Falls against the Argonauts on February 26.

The Frontier Conference tournament will be played at the home site of the top seeds in each round and begins on March 1 with the semi-final games being played on March 4. The championship game will be hosted by the best remaining seed on February 7. The 74th Annual Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship will be played on March 16-22 in Kansas City, Missouri.