BUTTE, Mont. – The Montana Tech men's basketball defended hard early and Michael Ure caught fire on the offensive side against Montana State Northern. The Orediggers boat raced the Lights 89-54.

The Lights shot 4 for 17 in the first 10 minutes of the game. On the other end of the court, the Orediggers went 4 for 5 from beyond the arc led by Micahel Ure. Ure was 4 for 4 from long helping the Orediggers get to a 20-8 lead half way through the first half.

The Orediggers led 42-25 at the break behind Ures perfect three-point shooting. He finished the half 6 for 6 with 20 of his eventual 35 points. Ure's lone miss from three-point range wasn't until 6:29 left in the game.The junior forward finished 8 for 9 and earning a spot in the record books. Ure ranks sixth on the list for most three-point makes in a game and his 35 points put him in seventh all-time.

Ure went 13 for 19 from the field and had 5 rebounds.

Tech shot 63.3% from the field in the game and went 13 for 21 from long. The Orediggers were tough around the backboard as well outrebounding the Lights 31-23 and scoring 40 points in the paint.

The Lights finished shooting 32.2% from the field and went 5 for 20 from three-point range. Northern only had 18 points in the paint.

Caleb Bellach was the only other Oredigger in double-digits finishing with 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting. Bellach's two missed shots came from deep going 2 for 4 from three-point range. He also had 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

The defense in the first half featured 5 of Tech's 8 blocked shots led by Ifeanyi Okeke. Okeke finished the game with 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals, 2 assists and 6 points.

Hayden Diekhans led the team with 7 rebounds and had 2 blocks. Asa Williams had a pair of blocks as well and 4 assists.

Chrishon Disxon had 6 of the teams 22 assists.  

JJ Thomas led the Lights with 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting.

Montana Tech hits the road this weekend. The Orediggers travel to Billings to take on the Rocky Mountain Battlin' Bears on Saturday.