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Montana Tech survives to win national tournament game for third year in a row

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Montana Tech survives to win national tournament game for third year in a row







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Montana Tech’s Asa Williams (1) slam dunks trailed by Wayland Baptist’s Tahjae Hill (0) during the first round of NAIA championships on Friday, March 15, 2024 at the HPER Complex in Butte.




BUTTE — For the third year in a row, Montana Tech has won an NAIA national tournament game.

The third-seeded Orediggers took care of business against 14-seed Wayland Baptist, 75-67, in front of a packed crowd at the HPER Complex.

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It was a tightly-contested matchup, but Tech found a way to survive and advance, and now is one of 32 teams left standing in the NAIA men’s basketball tournament.

The Diggers leaned on their past postseason experiences to overcome the Pioneers’ runs.

“That’s the one thing that’s a strength of ours, as I’ve mentioned before, the experience of our team. We’ve been in these moments before,” Tech head coach Adam Hiatt said.

Just over one year since tearing his ACL in the first minute of Tech’s opening-round tournament game, Caleb Bellach scored 14 points.

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The emotions were much different this time around as Bellach got to experience playing a full national tournament game in Butte for the first time.

“I’ve been thinking about it for the past year,” Bellach said. “I was asking God why, well this is why. For nights like this.”

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Montana Tech’s Caleb Bellach (10) drives past Wayland Baptist’s Jaxon Recer (23) during the first round of NAIA championships on Friday, March 15, 2024 at the HPER Complex in Butte.



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Asa Williams led Tech offensively with 18 points and Keeley Bake added nine points.

Wayland Baptist was hungry to pull off the upset, and nearly did enough to do so. It trailed by three points at halftime.

It was an off shooting night for the Diggers — making four of 21 attempts from beyond the arc — but they were able to overcome those woes.

“The way you lose in the tournament, is you have one cold night, and we did,” Hiatt said. “We did a lot of things to enable a team to be able to step up and beat us.”

“However, we learned a lot this year and this team has grown a lot. Our grit and our toughness really propelled us in that second half. We bent a little bit, but we didn’t break.”

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Helping the Diggers hold off the Pioneers was a loud and proud crowd. The HPER was nearly at capacity and gave Tech a boost as the program improved its home record to 47-2 over the last three seasons.







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Young fans cheer as the Orediggers starting lineup is announced during the first round of NAIA championships on Friday, March 15, 2024 at the HPER Complex in Butte.

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“Everywhere you look, there’s not an open seat in the place. Everyone’s standing up, getting loud for you. Who wouldn’t want to play in a gym like that?” Bellach said.

“I feel like we have the best home court advantage in the nation.”

The turnaround is quick as Tech will host Lewis-Clark State on Saturday at 6 p.m.

A lot has changed for the Warriors since they took a 79-55 loss to the Diggers in Butte on Nov. 17. An 11-seed, L-C State defeated six-seed Hope International, 93-77, on Friday.

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The Warriors have won seven of their last eight games.

“They’re a completely different team,” Hiatt said. “They’ve figured out their rotation. They have size in the middle, just like tonight, that can cause us some problems. They’re gritty defensively.”

The winner of Saturday’s matchup will advance to the NAIA National Championship Final Site in Kansas City, Missouri.

Tech reached the final site last season in the program’s deepest tournament run ever, and has been thinking about making it back ever since.

“We got one win to get back to Kansas City, and that’s what we’ve been working for all year,” Bellach said.

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“We celebrate this one tonight a little bit, but we’re not finished yet.”

Gavin Derkatch is a sports reporter for the Montana Standard. Follow him on Twitter @GDerkatch or email him gavin.derkatch@406mtsports.com



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Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

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March 2, 2026

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Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV





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Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

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13 hours ago

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March 1, 2026

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Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026


HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

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Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

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“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

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“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.





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Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

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March 1, 2026

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Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round


BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.

The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.

MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.

MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74

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MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.

Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.

Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.

But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.

As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.

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Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Montana Western 65, Carroll 56

After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.

Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.

The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.

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Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.

Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.





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