HAVRE, Mont. – The regular season finale came down to a final shot at The Armory. With time running out, Michael Ure hit a three at the buzzer giving No. 11 Montana Tech a 64-63 win over (RV) MSU-Northern.
The Lights (18-9, 7-7) were trailing going into the final minutes of the game. Northern brought the game to a tie at 61 when Immanuel Anderson hit a jumper with 2:35 to play. After the Orediggers missed on the other end, Jesse Keltner put Northern up on a dunk 63-61 with 1:19 left.
After both teams turned the ball over, Ure got the opportunity give Tech their fifth straight win.
The Orediggers outrebounded the Lights 38-28 but committed 12 turnovers in the game, their most during the Frontier Conference schedule.
The Orediggers shot 431% from the field and hit just 5 of 15 from three-point range.
Northern shot 48.2% after halftime and finished 44.8% from the field. The Lights went 4 for 19 from long.
Asa Williams scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half. Williams hit 2 of 3 from long after halftime as Tech held the lead until the final minutes. Williams finished shooting 7 for 14 from the field and grabbing six rebounds.
Caleb Bellach was held to 16 points.
Ure finished with 11 points going 4 for 8 from the field and 2 for 4 from deep with three rebounds.
Hayden Diekhans had 10 rebounds and finished with seven points.
Keltner led the Lights with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Zackary Martinez hade 13 points, four assists, and four rebounds.
CJ Nelson had 11 points and three rebounds.
Tech ends the regular season with the best overall regular season record in school history finishing 24-4.
The Orediggers 12-3 conference mark makes the grade for one of the top conference finishes. The 1987-88 and 1990-91 teams both finished 13-3 in conference games. The 1984-85 team finished 12-3.
The Orediggers have the top seed in the Frontier Conference Tournament. Tech plays at 5 p.m. Monday February 27th at the Four Season Arena in Great Falls.
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