By SCOTT NOVAK
Niles Daily Star

A pair of timely 3-pointers by Niles sophomore Austin Parks, a drive to the basket for a score by junior Myles Busby and a steal with four seconds remaining by junior Quintin Irby helped the host Vikings defeat Dowagiac 64-43 Saturday night.

Parks knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers turned a four-point deficit for Niles into a 61-59 lead with 3:25 to play in the non-league contest.

The Chieftains would regain the lead one last time, but Busby drove the lane and rolled in a shot to make it 64-63 with 50 ticks remaining in the contest.

Following an offensive foul on David Garner, his fifth, with 13.6 seconds left, Dowagiac had one more chance at pulling out the victory.

After a timeout with 10.6 left to play, the Chieftains turned the ball over to Irby near the top of the key and that was that.

“On that final play what we were trying to do was spread the court a little bit and get an opportunity to attack the basket with our point guard,” Dowagiac coach Danum Hunt said. “If we couldn’t do that we had a set play to get a short open jump shot.”

The game was close throughout with neither team opening up more than a six-point lead.
The contest was tied numerous times and the lead changed hands eight times, including six in the second half.

Niles led 14-11 after the first quarter and 31-29 at the break. But Dowagiac was able to outscore the Vikings 20-17 in the third quarter to grab a 49-48 advantage.

Garner led all scorers with 26 points, many of which came in the paint.

“We thought David had a chance to be unstoppable in the lane with his strength,” Niles coach Todd Pawielski. “Coach (Steve) Grayson has done a great job in the weight room with our kids. He (Garner) was able to muscle inside for some hard earned baskets.”

Niles also got 13 points from Parks and eight points from Irby. Matthew McLaughlin, whose father Larry was a standout at Dowagiac, finished with seven points.

“Austin I thought really played big when the game was on the line,” Pawielski said. “He’s probably the hero tonight because he kind of gave us life when things easily could have gone the other way. He’s a good shooter and did what good shooters do.”

Dowagiac was led by Chris Craft’s 13 points. The Chieftains also got 12 points from Tremail Butcher and 10 points from Troy Butcher.

Niles is back in action on Tuesday when it travels to Marshall for a Big 16 Conference non-divistional match-up.

DOWAGIAC 63
Darius Wilson 3 1-1 8, Jason Turner 1 2-4 4, Tremail Butcher 5 1-3 12, Troy Butcher 4 2-3 10, Dontel Highsmith 2 4-6 8, Damone Huff 2 0-0 4, Chris Craft 6 0-0 13, Pierre Reed 1 0-0 2, Cody Cox 1 0-0 2, Andrew Cripe 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25 10-17 63
NILES 64
David Garner 10 6-10 26, Mitch Peterek 0 0-0 0, Austin Parks 5 0-1 13, Nick Lucero 2 1-2 5, Matthew McLaughlin 2 1-2 7, Quintin Irby 4 0-2 8, Myles Busby 1 3-4 5, Jordan Potthoff 0 0-0 0, Riley Robson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 11-21 54
Dowagiac 11 29 49 63
Niles 14 31 48 64
3-point goals: Dowagiac 3 (Wilson, Tremail Butcher, Craft), Niles 5 (Parks 3, McLaughlin). Total fouls: Dowagiac 18, Niles 16. Fouled out: Garner (N).
Varsity records: Dowagiac 3-4, Niles 5-3