Oredigger Men turn back Northern in double-overtime thriller

You know it's never going to be easy when MSU-Northern comes to town and Thursday night's game against Montana Tech was no exception.  The Lights erased a twelve-point second half deficit to force overtime and it took a Crishon Dixon buzzer-beater to force a second OT.  However, it was a Caleb Bellach steal in the second overtime that sealed the deal for the Orediggers while a Hayden Diekhans shot deflection put the nail in the coffin of the Lights in an 89-85 Frontier Conference Montana Tech win at Kelvin Sampson Court.

While Bellach's steal helped clinch the victory for the Orediggers, it was Dixon's trey at the end of the first overtime that had the crowd buzzing.  "I knew I didn't have time, so I let it go," an elated Dixon said after the game.  "I let it go and it went in," he added with a huge smile.  Dixon accounted for 9 of the Orediggers 89 points while Bellach led all scorers with 25.  Joining Bellach in double figures were guard Asa Williams with 13, forward Michael Ure got a dozen and Bridger Larson came off the bench to net 15.  Larson, a product of Sidney, MT, perhaps had his finest game of his Oredigger career getting the bulk of his points by simply going to the hoop shooting an impressive 7 of 8 from the floor.

The win, their seventh in a row, gives the twelfth-ranked Orediggers a 4-1 record in the Frontier Conference and a 16-2 mark overall and while the Lights drop to 1-4 in league play, you can't help but feel for them.  As Paul Panisko reported yesterday, of the 4 conference games they have lost so far, one was in overtime and two were in double-overtime.  That has to say something about the strength and balance in the conference this season.

Montana Tech travels to Dillon on Saturday with a chance to avenge their sole conference loss so far this season.