MISSOULA — For the second time in six years, the Montana Tech men's basketball team got a win over Montana inside Dahlberg Arena.
The Orediggers, who play in the Frontier Conference of the NAIA, defeated the NCAA Division I Grizzlies 82-75 on Wednesday. While the game goes down as an exhibition contest for Tech and will not be added to its record, it counts as a loss for Montana. The Griz are now 6-6 on the season.
Tech also got a 74-72 win over the Griz in November of 2019. Montana won the 2023 and 2024 meetings between the teams.
Tech (10-3) wasn't intimidated from the start. The Diggers took a 5-0 lead less than a minute into the game and led by as many as 11 points — 23-12 — after freshman guard Asher Williams hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the first half.
Montana eventually battled back to take its first lead at 34-33 on a three-point play by Tyler Isaak with 3:14 remaining the first half. Hayden Diekhans canned a 3 for Tech and Te'jon Sawyer got a bucket for the Griz, and the teams went into halftime knotted at 36-all.
The Orediggers, the 19th-ranked team in the NAIA, again pushed their lead to double digits in the second half. Rhett Reynolds, a former Grizzly, and Brayden Koch buried back-to-back 3s to make it 67-57 with just 8:19 to play.
Montana got back within one at 72-71 with 2:09 to play, but Reynolds and Koch quickly got Tech's advantage back to 77-71. The Diggers held on from there, with Koch knocking down five free throws in the final minute to ice the win.
Tech made 14 3s on the night, with Koch and Williams each making four. Diekhans and Levi Torgerson, who was an All-American on the Tech football team this fall, made two 3s apiece.
Williams scored a team-high 20 points to pace Tech, while Koch and Diekhans each added 19 points. As a team, the Orediggers made 28 of 56 from the floor (50%) and 14 of 29 from 3 (48.3%). They had 13 assists compared to just eight turnovers.
Montana was 26-of-57 shooting (46%) and made only 5 of 21 3-point attempts (24%). Sawyer led Montana with 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Money Williams added 19 points. Brooklyn Hicks contributed 13 points and eight rebounds.
The Griz, who had won their past two games after enduring a four-game losing streak, play Saturday at Louisville.
Tech has another exhibition contest scheduled Friday in Fort Benton versus Northwestern Polytechnic from Alberta, Canada.
