Oredigger win over Griz may be even bigger than it appears

On Wednesday evening the Montana Tech Orediggers went into Dahlberg Arena in Missoula and beat the defending Big Sky Conference Champion Montana Grizzlies.  To say they beat them may be a bit of an understatement.  The Diggs controlled the game, took care of the ball and shot the lights out.  Now any time an NAIA team can beat a team the caliber of Montana is something of which to take note, but the way Tech did it is a credit to an incredible coaching staff and a newly-energized group of players.  This is not, however, the first time Coach Adam Hiatt has done it.  And this latest win Wednesday evening could be as pivotal as the upset win back in 2019.

Six years ago, Montana Tech was a program on the rise and it was that win over Montana in Dahlberg Arena that one could argue gave the team the confidence that helped propel them to four consecutive Frontier Conference regular season and tournament titles, the last one coming last spring.  The Orediggers won a lot of games over this stretch and were nearly unbeatable on Kelvin Sampson Court.   But sometimes with winning comes complacency which may have been the case as the team entered conference play as the Diggs lost three straight at home to familiar foes Montana-Western, Rocky Mountain College and Carroll College.  True, as the four-time defending conference champions the Diggs are a bit of a marked team in the Frontier Conference and all three teams played extremely well, but it was clear that something was not right.

In Wednesday's win the Orediggers controlled the tempo from the opening tip.  They jumped out to a 5-0 lead which was extended to double-digits at one point before Montana got their first lead 17 minutes into the first half.  After being tied at halftime, the Diggers simply exploded offensively and held Big Sky preseason MVP Money Williams in check defensively.  Hayden Diekhans and Brayden Koch shot brilliantly and freshman Asher Williams had the game of his life.  The Orediggers hit 14 three-pointers and Diekhans, whose nickname is "Birdie" also had a monster game on defense looking more like Dikembe Mutombo at times the way he was blocking shots.  One particularly interesting stat is that the Orediggers only turned the ball over 8 times in the entire contest.  They played incredibly smart

Could this be the springboard game that inspires the squad to their 5th Frontier Title?  Time will tell.  The Diggs' have an exhibition game in Fort Benton against Northwestern Polytechnic on Friday evening and will start the New Year out on the road at Bismarck State and Dickenson State on January 2nd and 3rd respectively and will return to Kelvin Sampson Court on January 15th to face MSU-Northern.