GREAT FALLS — Montana Tech made history on Tuesday night, becoming the first program in Frontier Conference history to win four consecutive league tournament titles after a 69-50 win over the University of Providence.
The Orediggers (24-6) and Argos (16-14) played a very competitive first half. Providence jumped out to a 5-1 lead before Tech went on a 9-0 run. With Tech up 31-24 just before half, Argo senior AJ Boyd connected on a buzzer beater from three-quarters of the court to make it 31-27 at half and seemingly seize the momentum.
But unlike when Tech squandered a 22-point halftime lead to Rocky in the semifinals, the Diggers came out in the second half and quickly took control of the game, opening up with a 25-8 run in the first 10 minutes of the second frame to push the lead to 26 and coast the rest of the way.
Montana Tech dominated inside with 42 points in the paint, led by Fort Benton product Hayden Diekhans who had 23 points and 11 rebounds. Michael Ure scored 15 points and Karson Peffer added 11 to join Diekhans in double figures. The Orediggers outrebounded the Argos 38-29.
Providence was led by Boyd and Quinn Swanson who each score 12 points in a losing effort.
At times this season it seemed like Montana Tech would run away with the league crown as they had done in years past, but a four-game road losing streak in the middle of the Frontier season led to a battle for the regular season crown with Providence and Carroll.
But ultimately, Tech ended up exactly where they’ve been for the past four seasons — on top. And now Adam Hiatt’s crew will have a chance at redemption in the NAIA tournament, where they made it to the quarterfinals in 2023 and failed to advance to the final site in 2022 and 2024.
The final 64-team field and bracket will be announced Thursday at 6 p.m. on the NAIA Network.
