BUTTE — Two Carroll College teams rolled into Butte on Thursday ranked No. 10 in the nation. Both Saints teams looked like they were going to head back to Helena with wins, but the resilient Montana Tech men spoiled the party.
Carroll’s men led 41-28 at halftime and held a lead as big as 15 points, but the Orediggers steadily climbed back in the second half to steal a 73-70 victory. The Saints shot just seven of 24 in the final 20 minutes, while the Orediggers were able to connect on nearly 50 percent of their shots.
Chris O’Neill led all scorers with 19 points, with many of those coming in the second half. Iman Chatman added 12 points for Tech and Jake Miles had 11.
Five Saints scored in double digits, led by Match Burnham’s 15 points. National Player of the Year candidate Ryan Imhoff struggled from the field, shooting just three of 10 for a total of 13 points.
Carroll drops to 5-4 in Frontier Conference play, while the Orediggers’ second conference win pushes their record to 2-7.
The night began with a wire-to-wire victory from the Lady Saints, who downed the Diggers 65-49. Neither team shot the ball well, but Carroll shot 17 of 23 from the free throw line and forced 19 Montana Tech turnovers.
Michaela Dowdy led all scorers with 16 points, while Hannah Dean and Bailey Pasta scored in the double digits.
Shay Potter was the only Oredigger in double digits, scoring 14 points.
No. 10 Carroll improves to 7-2 in Frontier Conference play, and Montana Tech falls to 3-6.
