GREAT FALL, Mont. – Another close game brought another tough loss for Argo basketball. For the third time in four games, the game anyone's to win in the final minutes, and for the third time, UGF didn't come out on top, losing to Montana Tech 64-59.
The Orediggers were the clear aggressors from the opening tip, scoring 8 of game's first 9 points. That 1 point for UGF came by way of a free throw from guard Matthew Brooks-McGregor and at the 16:48 mark the junior would also score the Argo's first field goal to bring the score to 8-3.
Over the next seven minutes of play, UGF missed 13 shots and turned the ball over three times, while Tech's guard Chris O'Neill scored 10 points on the way to a 21-12 Oredigger lead.
Then UGF's defense suddenly ramped things up and Tech didn't score again for the next three minutes. Those three minutes, from the 9:39 to 6:39, flipped the score from 21-12 Tech, to 23-21 UGF. The run was started by a made 3-pointer from Brooks-McGregor and then two steals sent UGF into transition for some easy points.
A fastbreak dunk for senior Isaac Howard emphatically tied the score at 21-21, forcing the Oredigger coach to call a timeout and regroup. Brooks-McGregor then hit a long two-point jumper to give UGF its first lead of the night.
The remaining six and a half minutes of play saw four ties and three lead changes, the final of which was a 3-pointer from O'Neill to give Tech a 32-30 lead at the end of the first half.
Brooks-McGregor scored UGF's first 5 points of the second, bringing his game total to 13, but the junior was relatively quiet from then on.
The start of the second half played out much like the first, and after ten minutes of play the Orediggers led by 7. This time there was no impressive run to answer back.
A few missed shots from Tech in the final two minutes allowed UGF to pull within 2 points with 55 seconds left, and against with 35 seconds left, but made free throws continued to bring the Tech lead back to two scores until the game's end.
With Brooks-McGregor cooling off in the second half, it was junior guard Jared Schultz who took over the scoring duties for UGF. Schultz scored 6 of his 10 points in the second half and also added half of his 4 assists.
He and Brooks-McGregor were the only two Argos to score in double-digits. The latter had a team high 15 points.
UGF's record falls to 10-9 (2-6) with the loss. The Argos look to end a five-game losing streak with their first road game in 20 games, traveling to Havre, Montana to take on (15) Montana State University – Northern at 8 p.m. on January 26. UGF's last win came against MSU-Northern, a 72-59 win on January 5.
