BUTTE -- The No. 4-ranked Montana Tech men's basketball team got back on the winning track in a big way Saturday evening, dispatching Mayville State, 78-50, inside Valley Bank Arena. 

Brayden Koch scored a game-high 18 points for the Orediggers (9-3, 3-3 Frontier Conference), and Asher Williams chipped in 16 points off the bench. 

Montana Tech wasted no time asserting itself. The Orediggers jumped out to a 17-2 lead in the game's first 5:05 and never looked back. Hayden Diekhans, who finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, knocked down a 3-pointer on Tech's opening possession, and Koch made it an 11-0 game with the next eight before MSU (5-6, 1-5) got points on the board. 

Tech built the first-half lead to as many as 22 on a Koch 3-pointer with 2:13 on the clock and took a 38-19 lead into intermission. Koch had 15 points in the first half. 

Williams took over the second half for the Orediggers. The freshman scored 12 of his 16 in the latter 20 minutes as Tech built the lead out to 30 in the late going. 

The Oredigger defense, meanwhile, held the Comets in check. MSU shot just 19-for-60 (31.7 percent) from the field in the game. 

Isaiah Smith led the Comets with 16 points on the evening. 

Montana Tech will look to make it a perfect weekend Sunday at 5 p.m. against Valley City State.

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