Orediggers Come Up Short

Jason Silvernale

Montana Tech played a game of highs and lows, both literally and metaphorically, this past Thursday against Minot State in non-conference basketball action. Minot State would explode into two very convincing leads during the game, yet Tech nearly matched them only to fall to the hands of the clock with an 84-79 final score.
The Beavers leaped to an enormous start within the beginning minutes of the contest, building a 26-9 lead from a 22-3 run. Montana Tech would continue to pull within single digits of Minot when the Beavers were sparked to a 40-24 lead from an impressive campaign from three point land. Nonetheless, the Diggers nearly tied the game for half with a 40-36 score before heading to the locker room.



The second half was a much more tight game with no exceedingly large scoring runs or leads.


Kellen Hasquet once again led the Montana Tech squad with 18 points through a 60% game from behind the arc. Dirk Anderson and Brian Davison were right behind Hasquet with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Davison shot a cool 50% on his three-point attempts. Cole Conway grabbed 8 rebounds and tallied 4 steals to lead Montana Tech in the two respective categories.


The Orediggers are currently 0-6 after this loss, though all have been non-conference bouts. They will see the Kelvin-Sampson Court three more times before their conference schedule begins after the first of the year.


MINOT STATE UNIVERSITY (2-3) - Kelvin Fraser 5-11 1-2 11, Milos Jercotijevic 0-1 0-0 0, Nathaniel Packineau 4-10 1-2 12, Bojan Janjic 0-4 1-2 1, Anthony Enriquez 11-12 4-7 27, Jason West 8-14 0-1 18, Cam Malzer 1-2 0-0 2, Jonas Pollard 0-0 0-0 0, Kal Bay 3-6 0-0 9, Arrion Hinton 1-1 0-0 2, Shawn Storseth 0-1 0-0 0, Gary Heitkamp 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 34-63 7-14 84.

MONTANA TECH (0-5) - Tyree Haynie 2-4 4-6 8, Kellen Hasquet 6-14 3-5 18, Cole Conway 2-8 3-5 8, Brian Davison 3-6 4-4 13, A.J. Paine 3-10 0-0 6, Dirk Anderson 6-9 2-2 14, Hart Greenwood 0-1 0-0 0, Tanner Neumann 2-3 0-0 5, Ivan Sljivar 2-5 2-2 7. Totals 26-60 18-24 79.
Halftime: MSU 40-36. 3-point goals: MSU 9-24 (Fraser 0-1, Packineau 3-9, Janjic 0-1, Enriquez 1-1, West 2-6, Bay 3-6), MT 9-20 (Haynie 0-1, Hasquet 3-5, Conway 1-1, Davison 3-6, Paine 0-2, Neumann 1-2, Sljivar 1-3). Rebounds: MSU 39 (Fraser 8, Janjic 5), MT 35 (Conway 8, Hasquet 6, Sljivar 5). Fouls: MSU 20, MT 13. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none. Assists: MSU 16 (West 9), MT 12 (Paine 5, Haynie 2, Neumann 2). Turnovers: MSU 16, MT 17. Blocks: MSU 5 (Fraser 4), MT 0. Steals: MSU 13 (West 6), MT 7 (Conway 4).