GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The University of Providence men's basketball team fell to Montana Tech 76-66 Saturday afternoon in the McLaughlin Center.

The game is the first of the new year for the Argos (9-7, 1-3), who have been battling sickness since the holiday break. The squad didn't have enough players to field a team Thursday night and had to forfeit to Montana Western. Since the team returned from break on Dec. 27, the team has only had one practice where they have had ten players.

"Give Tech credit, they're a good basketball team," head coach Steve Keller said. "We need to get more time on the floor. We had too many guys out over the break and you could tell we weren't in a rhythm. We got beat in transition because we're tired. We haven't got beat in transition all year long. We played hard we just got tired. We saw some good things. It's going to get better."

The game marked the debut of Argo big Brenden Howard, who transferred to Providence over the break. The big man from Great Falls High School had a stellar performance, finishing with 16 points and three rebounds for the squad.

"He's going to help us with some of our deficiencies," Keller said. "He had a solid game. He's going to need to get more rebounds for us but our lineup is going to feature him and Jake a lot down the road. Jake finished with 10 rebounds so I'm excited to see the two of them together.

Marcus Stephens added 15 points for the Argos while Elijah Oliver added 11 points and seven rebounds for the squad.

Caleb Bellach led the Orediggers (12-5, 3-1) with 15 points and nine boards. Sindou Diallo and Taylor England each added 14 for the team.  

The Argos will return to action on Jan. 13 with a home game against #2 Carroll College for Superhero Night. That game will tip off at 7:00 p.m.