Diggers host Rocky Saturday in Frontier Mens and Women’s Frontier Conference Openers

The Montana Tech Orediggers will open their 2024 conference season with a bang as the men and women host the Rocky Mountain Battlin' Bears Saturday afternoon at Kelvin Sampson Court.

The women's contest tips off at 2pm and will be a challenge for the 9-4 Orediggers who are riding a two-game winning streak after their 59-50 win over Lakeland College and their 77-41 blowout of Ambrose University to close out calendar year 2023.  The Battlin' Bears come in ranked #12 in the country and are on a 2-game winning streak of their own.  Rocky's last loss was a 75-34 loss to #2 Indiana Wesleyan University.  The Bears are under the direction of 2022 Frontier Conference Coach of the Year Wes Keller.

The men will follow at approximately 4pm and will feature two nationally-ranked teams with impressive resumes.  The Orediggers are the two-time defending conference champs with a 10-3 nonconference record so far this season.  Guard Asa Williams was just named the Frontier Conference's Player of the Week and preseason MVP Caleb Bellach is back from injury and looking as good as ever.  The Diggers showed 60 minutes of intensity in their last outing, a 127-44 demolition of Ambrose University and are eager to defend their crown.  Rocky comes into the contest ranked #15 and among their wins this season is an impressive road victory over the Montana State Uniersity Bobcats.  The Battlin' Bears are 9-4 overall and are led by Bill Dreikosen who is currently in his 24th season.  Dreikosen led the Battlin' Bears to the NAIA national championship in the 2008-09 season when he was named NAIA National Coach of the Year.