PORTAGE — In the MHSAA Class A boys basketball tournament the idea is to survive and advance, and that is exactly what the Niles Vikings did on Monday night as they edged past the Portage Central Mustangs 60-56.

“Obviously it’s survive and advance this time of year, but we weren’t very pretty, or very fun to watch tonight,” claimed Niles coach Todd Pawielski.

Niles, who had beaten Portage Central 60-38 earlier this season, jumped out to an 8-0 advantage early in the contest and grew that lead to 13-3 before the Mustangs stormed back making the score 13-9 after one period of play.

Myles Busby led the Vikings with seven points in the opening period.

The second quarter began the same way the first period ended, with Portage Central scoring the first points of the quarter, cutting the lead to 13-11. Niles would answer back with five straight points from Austin Parks to give the visitors the 17-13 advantage.

Portage Central took its first lead of the game midway through the second period as Evan Pratt connected on a 3-point basket to put the Mustangs up 18-17. A basket by Busby, and another three by Parks and the Vikings were quickly up 22-18 with just over two minutes remaining in the half.

Two baskets by the Mustangs, Derek Schneider and Devrin Hill and the game was knotted once again, 22-22.

A basket by Quinton Irby and the ensuing foul shot with 1:23 remaining in the half would give the Vikings the lead that they would never relinquish, no matter how hard they tried.

A long-range bomb by Busby would finish the scoring for the half and Niles had a 28-22 lead heading into the locker room.

The Vikings came out in the second half and knocked down the first four points, increasing the lead to 10 at 32-22. That lead would increase to as many as 12, 40-28, as Niles appeared to be in total control of the contest. Niles held an 11-point advantage, 43-32, heading into the final eight minutes of the contest, and that is when the Mustangs came charging back.

Portage Central scored the first six points of the quarter on a three by Evan Robinson, a basket by Mike Smodic, and a free throw by Schneider as they cut the Viking lead to just five, 43-38.

Busby stopped the bleeding, albeit momentarily, by knocking down a shot, and drawing the foul. He knocked down the free one to extend the lead back to eight, 46-38.

Niles saw its eight point lead dissipate to just a three-point lead, 52-49 with just three minutes remaining in the game.

After both teams exchanged baskets, Niles found itself clinging to a 54-53 lead with two minutes remaining.

Niles’ Matthew McLaughlin dribbled to the corner into a trap, then found a wide open Nick Lucero under the basket to give Niles the 56-53 edge with under a minute to play. After a Portage Central timeout, the Mustangs had the ball, with time running down, trailing by three when Busby was able to tip the ball away from Central’s Smodic into the hands of teammate McLaughlin.

A Mustang foul sent McLaughlin to the line shooting two, but the junior was only able to connect on one giving the Vikings just a mere four point, 57-53 lead with 22.2 seconds remaining.

Schneider would calmly drain a 3-point bomb with 10.7 remaining to cut the lead back to one, 57-56. A quick foul sent Niles’ Campbell to the line shooting two, but once again the Vikings were only able to connect on one, and the lead was just two, 58-56 with 9.8 seconds remaining, and the Mustangs had the ball.

As Schneider was bringing the ball up the floor for a chance to either win the game or send it into overtime, Campbell was able to steal the ball away and find a streaking Busby who laid the ball in at the horn to give the Vikings the four point victory, 60-56.

“We scored plenty of points to win tonight, but defensively we could not contain the basketball. We gambled too much and Portage Central did a great job of attacking the rim,” said Pawielski. “I thought Portage Central played hard, and I thought we played just well enough to win. I thought Miles Busby made some great plays with the game on the line, and so did Taylor Campbell.”

Busby led the Vikings with 23 points. Parks and Zachary Prenkert each contributed nine, while McLaughlin and Irby had five apiece.

With the win, Niles moves on to round two of the Class A District Tournament that will be played Wednesday night at Benton Harbor against the winner of Kalamazoo Central and Portage Northern. The game will begin at 6 p.m.