BUTTE, Mont. - Montana Tech senior Christian Jones couldn't have come up with three bigger shots for his teammates on Saturday afternoon as the Diggers prevailed over Providence 76-71 at Kelvin Sampson Court. 

Jones entered the game with 11:06 left to play and the Diggers down 53-49 before knocking down three critical buckets for the Diggers. Jones knocked down a three to cut the Providence lead to one point with 6:11 remaining, another with 3:42 remaining to keep the Providence lead at one point, and his last of the night with 1:10 on the clock to put Montana Tech ahead 71-68.

No. 14 Montana Tech trailed by four points at halftime, 41-37, and as many as nine points in the second half. The two squads traded leads with the Argos 12 times during the contest. 

The Orediggers finished the afternoon shooting 41.5% from the floor and 30.8% from three while the Argos went 47.5% from the floor and 31.3% from three. 

Sophomore standout Caleb Bellach's 18 points led the Diggers while Sindou Diallo added 12 points and Jones scored nine off the bench. Drew Huse added eight, and Taylor England and Derrius Collins chipped in seven. 

Brendan Howard led the Argos with 22 points and 11 rebounds. 

With the win, Montana Tech improves to 23-6 overall and 12-2 in Frontier Conference play. The 23 wins is the most in program history. 

The Argos fell to 11-16 overall and 2-12 in Frontier Conference action. 

The Diggers hosts MSU-Northern on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. at Kelvin Sampson Court.