BUTTE, MONT. – Montana Tech jumped out to a 16-4 lead in the first half and never looked back on the way to a 76-64 win over Valley City State University in Frontier Conference Men's basketball Sunday night in Butte, Montana.

The Vikings are now 4-7 overall and 0-7 in the Frontier Conference. Montana Tech improves to 10-3 overall and 4-3 in the conference.

The Orediggers scored the first seven points in the game to take the early lead. A three-pointer by Brayden Koch made it 7-0 Montana Tech with 17:32 to go in the first half. A jumper by JR Cison got the Vikings on the board and cut the lead to 7-2 with 16:43 to go in the first half. A Logan Deal layup with 16:03 to go in the half made it 10-4 Orediggers. That would be as close as the Vikings would get for the rest of the half. Levi Torgerson made a layup to give Montana Tech the 16-4 lead with 15:16 to go in the half.

The lead would stay between twelve and 17 points for most of the rest of the half. Koch's third three-pointer of the first half gave Montana Tech a 23-6 lead with 10:01 to go in the half. The teams would go back and forth for the next several minutes. A Koch jumper made it 35-17 with 1:42 to go in the half, that was the biggest lead of the half for the Diggers. A layup by Hayden Diekhans made it 37-19 Montana Tech heading to halftime.

The Vikings came out strong in the second half. A 10-3 run by VCSU cut the lead to eleven. A three-pointer from Taylor Bryant-Frey from the left wing made the score 40-29 with 16:45 to go in the second half. The Vikings continued to chip away at the lead even after the Diggers got it back up to 16 points with a mini five-point run. A three-pointer by Diekhans made it 45-29 with 15:16 to go in the half. Then VCSU went on a 13-3 run to get the lead into single digits for the first time since 12-4 in the first half. Alex Lester made one of two free throws to make it 47-38 with 11:00 to go in the second half. A put back bucket by Deal made the score 48-42 Montana Tech with 9:45 to go in the second half.

After a short jumper by JR Cison cut the lead to six again at 50-44 with 9:04 to go in the second half, the Diggers went on 13-4 run to take a 15-point lead. A Koch free throw made it 63-48 Montana Tech with 6:40. Back-to-back three-pointers by Sam Kobbervig and Joel Nelson cut the lead to 70-59. But it was too little too late for the Vikings as the Orediggers picked up a 76-64 win.

JR Cison led the Vikings with 18 points. Alex Lester added 13 points and a team high eight rebounds. Logan Deal added eleven points, seven rebounds, and two assists. Taylor Bryant-Frey had six points and Joel Nelson chipped in five.

Up Next: The Vikings host Dakota Wesleyan at the Bubble next Saturday, December 20^th at 2:00 p.m. before the Christmas break. The resume Frontier Conference action January 2^nd when they host Montana State-Northern.