DILLON — Jamal Stephenson came through for Montana Western down the stretch.
Stephenson scored a team-high 19 points — including some critical free throws in the waning minutes — as the Bulldog men delivered a 67-64 upset over No. 12 Montana Tech on Saturday.
The Bulldogs led 33-25 at halftime and maintained that lead for much of the second half. Tech’s Caleb Bellach scored a go-ahead layup to put Tech up with 1:33 left in the game.
Stephenson responded with a layup and an and-1 to put the Bulldogs up for good.
Ky Kouba added 14 points and nine rebounds for Western and Michael Haverfield had 10.
Tech (9-2 overall, 1-1 in the Frontier Conference) was led by 23 points from Asa Williams, Caleb Bellach scored 15 and Michael Ure and Keeley Bake each had eight.
Western (6-6, 1-1) will play an exhibition game at Idaho State on Tuesday while the Orediggers will travel to Northern New Mexico College on December 17.
Western women 73, Tech 67
As she’s done many times throughout her career at Montana Western, Brynley Fitzgerald took over.
The senior guard piled up a game-high 26 points and hauled in eight rebounds as the Bulldogs rallied out of a double-digit first half with an explosive second quarter to down Montana Tech 73-67 and earn their first conference win of the season.
The Orediggers (2-6 overall, 0-2 in the Frontier Conference) built a 20-10 first quarter before Western (6-3, 1-1) flipped the script in the second, at one point going on a 26-3 run to take a 42-29 lead into the break.
Joelnell Momberg and Jordan Sweeney added eight points apiece for the Bulldogs and Keke Davis had seven.
Tech, which outscored Western 21-10 in the fourth quarter but was held without a field goal for the final two minutes, was led by 23 points from Tavia Rooney on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. McKayla Kloker went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and totaled 12 points.
The Western women travel to Ottawa University (Ariz.) on Dec. 17 for a non-conference game while the Oredigger women head for Missoula on Dec. 18 to take on the Lady Griz in an exhibition game.
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