GREAT FALLS — Montana Tech successfully played keepaway in the waning moments, and muscled up on the court to defeat the University of Great Falls 69-61 Saturday night in a Frontier Conference college men's basketball game played in the McLaughlin Center.

A.J. Paine scored 20 points to pace the Oredigger win. Adam Greger scored 17 points and Brian Cummings shot in 11.

Ken Anderson led Great Falls with 16 points.

“It was a tough, physical game and our guys were able to take control of the physicality of it,” Montana Tech head coach Aaron Woliczko said. “I looked to Tanner Neumann and Cole Conway for that.”

Neumann is a Butte Central graduate and Conway graduated from Butte High.

“Thankfully, they were on the same side tonight,” Woliczko said, responding to a side mention of the two having gained experience in physical basketball from Butte High-Butte Central games. “Tanner had 10 rebounds and Cole nine, and that was huge.”

The Orediggers gained a 35-34 halftime edge in what was a close, competitive game all the way through.

“The change of the game came with us going to a smaller lineup,” Woliczko said, listing Paine, Neumann, Conway, Adam Greger and Brandon Rydberg as the unit he picked for the occasion. “And they really took charge. It worked so well, I left them out there and they made me look like a good coach.”

The ploy allowed Montana Tech to match the Great Falls quickness.

Woliczko said his team had possession and the lead with about six minutes left  when he decided to milk the clock.

“We ran it down, shot it and got the offensive rebound,” he said. “We ran it down again, shot it and got the offensive rebound again. We did that four or five times and it allowed us to run about 2 1/2 minutes off the clock.”

He said the Orediggers struggled with turnovers, but credited the Argonauts with being a strong reason.

“I don't know if we've had 19 turnovers in a game since we played the Griz,” Woliczko said. “Great Falls will do that to you. They're among the nation's leaders in creating turnovers and they have that quickness. We need to be stronger when we play them again.

“We shared the ball well. We had 16 assists and it's been awhile since we've had 16 assists.”

Woliczko praised the play of Paine, Greger and Cummings, too. Paine led the team in scoring and steals, shared it in assists, and also grabbed three rebounds. Cummings was 3-for4 from 3-point range.

“Greger (a true freshman) was battling against a young man in the post who was about 6-9 and really contested a lot of his shots,” Woliczko said.

The Orediggers are next matched against Montana Western for a game next Saturday at the Montana Tech HPER Complex.