Salt Lake City – The Montana Tech men’s basketball team came from behind to down NCAA Division II Chadron State 85-70 at the first game of the Westminster Thanksgiving Classic.

The Orediggers (4-2) improve their record after dropping their last two games.

Montana Tech started off slow giving points to Chadron early. They were down by as many as 14 with 11:18 to go in the first half.

“We started off the game very tentative,” said head coach Aaron Woliczko. “They were moving north and south and driving to the hoop and we were doing a poor job defending them.”

The Orediggers worked their way back into the game trailing 33-27 at the break.

“We changed up our defense and became the aggressor. We were able to throw them off their game and they became the tentative team.”

The second half was a different story. The Orediggers powered past Chadron with 14:01 left in the game. Tech used a 13-2 run in less than three minutes to take a 50-42 lead with 11 minutes to go.

Chadron couldn’t muster a comeback with the Orediggers winning by fifteen.

Sophomore Adam Greger led Tech with 29 points and 11 rebounds.

Bryan Bock hit 9 of 10 from the free throw line. He had 16 points, nine rebounds and a pair of steals.

Senior Tanner Neumann had 10 points, five assists and two rebounds.

The Orediggers play again tomorrow night. Tip-off against No. 20 Cal State San Marcos at 5:30 p.m.

– Montana Tech Sports Information

TECH-CSC