Orediggers knock off Griz men, 82-75

MISSOULA — The Frontier Conference plays some pretty good hoops.

Asher Williams scored 20 points, Hayden Diekhans added 19 and Montana Tech knocked off Montana 82-75 in men’s basketball Wednesday at Dahlberg Arena. 

Brayden Koch added 16 points for the Orediggers (10-3), who pushed away from a 72-71 lead with 2:09 left in the exhibition. 

The four-time Frontier Conference champs are stocked with Montana products, including Diekhans, a 6-foot-6 senior out of Fort Benton, and Koch, a 6-3 junior from Helena who began his college career at Carroll.

It was Shelby’s Rhett Reynolds, a former Griz, who hit a layup to put Tech up 74-71 with 1:49 left. Koch hit a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left, then hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 29 seconds. 

Williams is a 6-6 freshman out of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. He was 4 of 5 from 3-point range; his layup with 15:12 left gave Tech the lead for good, 48-47. The gap grew to 67-57 on Koch’s three at the 8:19 mark. Koch was 4 of 8 from long range and Diekhans and Levi Torgerson each hit a pair of threes. 

UM’s Te’Jon Sawyer had 23 points, including a layup that cut Tech’s lead to 72-71. He had 12 rebounds for the Big Sky Conference Griz (6-6), who beat UNLV on the road on Nov. 11. Money Williams checked in with 19 points. Brooklyn Hicks had 13, including three 3-pointers. 

Montana was 5 of 21 from the arc; Tech was 14 of 29.