Opposing coaches and reserves often shout a couple of similar things whenever SLCC guard Brian Green gets his hands on the basketball no matter how close or far he is from the hoop.
The first thing they yell: "Shooter!"
And the second?
Considering this is a family friendly publication, let's just say he makes a whole lot of the shots he attempts and can't be held responsible for what comes out of opponents' mouths after he drills one 3-pointer after another.
As for the P.A. announcers, "Green for three!" has been a common refrain this season. The Bruins' feisty and physical 2 guard has been cool and clutch from beyond the arc this season while hitting more than half of his long-ball attempts.
After finishing his senior season at Davis High two years ago 10th among 5A 3-point shooters, Green has been ranked high nationally in the NJCAA all season. He is currently 11th, having hit a smidgen over 50 percent of his 3-pointers. The sophomore sharpshooter has nailed 72 deep ones, averaging almost three threes a game.
"This is probably my best year shooting," said Green, who averaged 1.8 3-pointers a game as a Davis senior in 2005-06.
He attributes "just practice, practice" in the offseason for making the biggest difference in his improved long-distance accuracy.
"The incredible thing is he's over 50 percent and people know it," said SLCC coach Norm Parrish. "People don't give him open looks, and he's still hitting them."
The No. 4 Bruins, who are sixth nationally with a 42.3-percent shooting mark from 3-point land, depend on the long ball more this year than last when they had an All-American big man in Gary Wilkinson.
Interestingly, Green is now shooting even better from behind the 3-point line than from in front of it. He hit 3 of 6 treys in Friday night's upset win over No. 1 College of Southern Idaho, but he only made 6 of 17 shots overall. For the season, he's shooting 48.1 percent from inside the arc, 50.3 on threes and 49.2 percent from the field overall.
Green has a ways to go to catch the national leader. According to the NJCAA, Potomac State College of WVU's Chad Wilson has hit 81 percent of his 3-pointers (47-for-58).
FOND FAREWELL: His Westminster career isn't over yet, but Danny Reeder's playing days at Behnken Field House are. Saturday night's closer-than-expected 76-73 win over Montana Tech was the stellar point guard's home grand finale.
Reeder, who leads the NAIA in assists, contributed nine points, seven assists and three rebounds in his last home hurrah.
Westminster, which is tied for first atop the Frontier Conference, still has two critical regular-season games this week at Rocky Mountain and Carroll College. The league tournament is the next week followed by, the Griffins hope, the NAIA tournament, so he still has plenty of basketball left before calling it a college career.
"He's been a phenomenal player. He's led us to many wins. He's represented our program well," said Westminster coach Tommy Connor. "The best part about it, it's not his last game ... It'll be a sad day when it's his last game."
Reeder has a chance to leave as the school's all-time leader for scoring, steals and assists. He already has set the assists record. Stats won't be the thing he remembers most about his time at Westminster.
"I've had really good teammates. Everybody on the team's (been) my best friend for the past four years," he said. "That might almost be harder to leave them behind than basketball."
Reeder was the only Griffin honored at Senior Night; the rest of his teammates have at least one more year.
HAWAII 5-0: The Dixie State women obviously did more than just spend time on the beach during their recent trip to Oahu. The Rebels won all three games in Hawaii last week, upping their current win streak to five games. They've also won five in a row in paradise, dating back to their road trip there in January.
Three different players — Lindsey Chettinger, Jessica Carver and Sammi Griffiths — led the team in scoring in the three wins. Chettinger had two huge games, scoring 23 points in an overtime win (84-79) at BYU-Hawaii and 17 in Saturday's 65-58 victory against Hawaii Pacific. Jessica Carver threw in 17 points and 13 rebounds in that win, while Sammi Griffths had a team-best 13 points in a 77-64 win over Hawaii Pacific on Friday.
It's too bad for Dixie that it's not eligible for the PacWest tourney. The Rebels have climbed to second place at 15-10, 11-5. They finish off their season with home games Wednesday (Notre Dame de Namur) and Thursday (Chaminade).
The men again went 1-2 in Hawaii, losing to BYU-Hawaii but splitting with Hawaii Pacific.
SNOW BALLERS: The Badgers' teams are both a bit under .500, but Snow is represented well in the scoring leaders for conference play.
The men (13-15, 4-9) have three of the top 12 SWAC scorers in Rory Patterson (sixth, 16.5 ppg), Rene Farias (ninth, 14.8 ppg) and Ryan Brimley (12th, 13.0 ppg).
The women (12-15, 5-8) have four of the top 14, led by Cami Hymas (seventh, 11.5 ppg), Cori Neilson (ninth, 10.8 ppg), Vanessa Riggs (13th, 9.0 ppg) and Lindsie Wilson (14th, 8.7 ppg).
CEU's Darington Hobson leads the men in SWAC scoring at 23.9 ppg.
RANKING FILE: SLCC's men jumped up to No. 4 in the latest NJCAA poll, while the women were 26th and should move into the Top 25 for the first time after upsetting fourth-ranked CSI Friday ... Westminster's men (19-5) fell to 24th, but the Griffin women (21-6) jumped up to 19th.
E-mail: jody@desnews.com