BUTTE, Mont.- The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced that the Orediggers of Montana Tech would be one of the 16 host sites where the first and second-round games of the National Championship, presented by Ballogy, would be played.

The first-round matchups in the Naismith Quadrant, to be played on Friday, March 15^th, are No. 3 seed Montana Tech vs. No. 14 Wayland Baptist, and No. 6 Hope International vs. No. 11 Lewis-Clark State.

The Warriors are no stranger to Butte, Montana, or Kelvin Sampson Court. Lewis-Clark State was a member of the Frontier Conference from 1998 until 2020 when they joined the Cascade Conference as a full-time member.

In their 22 years as a Frontier Conference member, the Warriors were regular season champions (or co-champions) eight times, they also won the Frontier Conference tournament an incredible nine times.

The 2023-24 Warriors finished the regular season in second place with a 19-3 record in the Cascade Conference (22-8 overall). They fell in the CCC tournament to, the eventual winner, Oregon Tech 82-80.

The Warriors missed the tournament last year but did make the field in 2022. This marks their 18^th trip to the dance, with a 10-16 record over those appearances.

Lewis-Clark State has averaged 82 points per game this season (4^th in the Cascade) on 48.7% shooting from the floor, and 37.9% from the 3-point line. On the other side of the floor, they are giving up 71.5 points per contest (3^rd in the Cascade).

They are led in scoring by senior Jaedon Bradley, who is netting 14.6 points, as well as pulling down 5.5 rebounds a game. Davian Brown is averaging 13 ppg, and both Quentin Raynor and Alton Hamilton are both putting down 10.8 points a game.

The Warriors do a good job of keeping care of the basketball, only giving up 11 turnovers a game, on average.  They also distribute the ball well at 13.1 assists per game.

When we looked at Hope International earlier this week (You can read that HERE) we touched on the fact that the two teams have already played this year, at a tournament hosted by the College of Idaho in Caldwell, Idaho. The Warriors fell in that first meeting 74-71, but every coach, player, and fan anywhere will tell you "That game was a long time ago.'

You can get tickets for the Tournament in Butte by calling 406-496-4896.

You can also watch the stream (free) HERE.