GUNNISON, Colo. Saturday evening's pre-game Senior Night ceremony honored four departing players from the Western Colorado men's basketball program but visiting Westminster College did its best to steal the show in a season-ending 85-60 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory over the host Mountaineers in Paul Wright Gym.

Head coach Bradd Schafer and his staff honored Cole Sienknecht, Will Willis, Alex Woodruff and Cade Wood, and their accompanying families, in front of the final home crowd of the season.

The quartet of seniors joined Matthew Ragsdale as starters for the game, and the senior foursome made it back onto the court together in the final minutes of the game, with Schafer then subbing each out, one by one, in one last fanfare moment.
 

THE ESSENTIALS
Final score: Westminster def. Western Colorado, 85-60
Records: Western Colorado 5-23 (4-18 RMAC), 12-16 (10-12)
Location: Paul Wright Gym, Gunnison, Colo.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• A Ragsdale jumper two minutes into the game evened the score at 5-5, but Westminster would run off a 15-point unanswered string from which Western was never able to recover.
• During that four-minute span the Griffins drained a trio of three pointers, came away with three defensive rebounds and a pair of steals, and gained two more possessions on Mountaineer turnovers.
• Western found its footing and kept the lead from growing over the next minutes, and then a little past the midway point of the half it chipped into the deficit.
• Down 25-10 a Ragsdale putback after he'd collected an offensive rebound gave the Mountaineers some life.
• Ragsdale pulled down a defensive rebound on Westminster's ensuing possession and Willis later earned a trip to the free-throw line, where he converted both chances to trim the margin to just 11 points, 25-14.
• Though the Griffins pushed the lead back to 15, a Jaelan McCloud 3-pointer brought the deficit to 12. Unfortunately for Western, that would be the narrowest gap on the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.

HARDWOOD NOTES

• Ragsdale, Willis, Jaelan McCloud and Avery Rembao reached double-digits in scoring for the Mountaineers, led by Rembao's 13 points. Each of the others netted 10 points during the loss.
• Westminster did most of its damage through three players, getting 21 from Yusuf Mohamed, 16 from Reme Torbert and 14 from Brayden Johnson.
• Western shot 35 percent from the floor on the night, creating rebounding opportunities of which the Griffins pounced on for a 43-31 advantage. Ragsdale led the Mountaineers with six boards while Westminster had six players pull down at least four rebounds apiece.
• Neither team traveled to the stripe very often as only 25 combined free throws were attempted in the contest. Westminster was nearly perfect, though, hitting 10 of 11 with Western succeeding on 9 of 14.

SEASON NOTES

• Sienknecht in the 2021-22 season became the seventh Mountaineer to collect 1,000 career points, followed by Ragsdale becoming the eighth soon after. Sienknecht finishes his career with 1,107 points, and Ragsdale will head into a new season with 1,309 points to his credit.
• Rembao, a third-year player (but, like Ragsdale, a sophomore, playing in his COVID-granted season) is likely next in line, totaling 755 points in three years, averaging 252 per season but hitting for 333 in the 2021-22 campaign.
• Elijah Davidson led the team in rebounding with 206 for the year, and registered double-digits 10 times including in six of the final nine games.