GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- No program had ever won the Frontier Conference men's basketball tournament four seasons in a row.

Now one has.

Top-seeded Montana Tech, already the four-time Frontier regular-season champion, took care of business against No. 2 seed Providence, 69-50, Tuesday evening to hoist the league championship trophy four a fourth-consecutive year.

Junior Hayden Diekhans led the charge for the Orediggers, posting a double-double on the floor at Great Falls' Pacific Steel & Recycling Arena with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Michael Ure (15 points) and sophomore Karson Peffer (11) also scored in double figures for Tech.

With the win, Montana Tech (24-6) earns the Frontier's automatic qualifier to the NAIA national tournament. The Orediggers, ranked No. 21 in the latest top 25 poll, will find out their draw when the bracket is announced Thursday.

Montana Tech got out to a fast start in Tuesday's championship, building a seven-point lead over the first 8 minutes and extending it to 11 by the 3:46 mark in the first half. That double-digit advantage came after a 7-0 Diggers run, which Ure punctuated with a 3-pointer that forced a Providence timeout.

The Argos did rebound to cut the deficit to four by halftime, aided by a buzzer-beating 3 from Antoine Boyd Jr., from beyond midcourt. Tech led 31-27 at the break.

"Our heads were hanging a little bit because we did feel like we defended at a high level, and then they made that 3," Tech head coach Adam Hiatt said.

The Orediggers regrouped quickly in the second half. After UP cut the lead to two, a pair of Diekhans free throws kicked off a 13-0 run that put Montana Tech in control of the game.

Providence never again cut the deficit to single digits, and another 10-0 barrage capped by Levi Torgerson's step-back 3 with 9:09 to play put the Diggers up 21.

Ifeanyi Okeke's layup with 3:08 remaining gave Tech a 26-point lead, its largest of the night, and the Orediggers cruised to the ceiling-shattering victory.

Boyd Jr. and Quinn Swanson paced Providence (16-14) with 12 points each.

For Tech, the postgame conversation was about the history they made as the first team to ever four-peat as Frontier tournament champs. Players held up four fingers for the postgame photograph.

"It's really special to be a part of," Ure said. "It's memories to write down and not be forgotten for each of us."

Hiatt added more context.

"We felt incredibly proud that last year we were the first team [in the Frontier] to win three regular-season and three tournaments titles consecutively," the coach said. "I'm just humbled to be a part of this."

For the coach, the latest championship in the string may have been the sweetest. Tech battled adversity through the season: Injuries that ended seasons and kept key players out of the lineup for important stretches of the schedule and a four-game losing streak in the thick of conference play.

But the Orediggers, their coach said, never lost faith in their ability.

"Perseverance — that's what this team embodies," Hiatt said. "They never fragmented. We stayed the course. These guys trusted that we were going to figure out a way to get out of it."

And, after some well-deserved rest, Tech's team will look at the NAIA national tournament with optimism.

"This team is really confident right now," said Hiatt, "and I think if we can maintain that confidence, we'll continue to get it done."