The Niles Vikings served notice to the rest of the Big 16 Conference’s West Division that with or without Myles Busby, they are a team that must be dealt with.

The Vikings (1-0) opened up a 10-point bulge at the end of the first quarter and rolled to an easy 84-59 victory over visiting Portage Central Tuesday night in the season opener for both schools.

Busby did not play in the contest due to a coach’s decision.

“Coaches make decisions on playing time based on the actions and behaviors of players,” Niles coach Todd Pawielski said of Busby’s absence.

Taylor Campbell got the Vikings off to a quick start as he connected on the first six points of the contest.

Niles opened up a 9-2 lead when Austin Parks connected one of the Vikings’ four first quarter 3-pointers.

Logan Templeton came off the bench for the Mustangs and connected on a 3-pointers to cut the Niles lead to 11-9 with 1:01 to play in the opening quarter.

The Vikings responded with a 3-pointer by Campbell with 54 ticks left on the opening quarter clock to push the lead to 14-9. A bucket by Alex Brown made it 16-9 and when Parks canned another 3-pointer at the buzzer, Niles led 19-9.

Mitchell Dehn scored the first bucket of the second quarter for the Vikings who led 25-9 before Daniel Tumm’s three-point play gave Portage Central momentary relief.

It was Templeton who sparked another brief rally for the Mustangs, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second quarter to cut the Niles lead down to 31-21 with 3:21 to go in the opening half.

Niles’ Matthew McLaughlin had the answer and what turned out to be the knockout blow for the Vikings.

He sandwiched a basket with a pair of 3-pointers in the final three minutes of the second quarter to push the lead back to 39-24 before Niles settled for a 39-26 halftime advantage.

Quintin Irby, who picked up three first half fouls, put the Mustangs away with a barrage of points in the opening three minutes of the third quarter.

Irby scored nine points as the Vikings opened up a 51-28 advantage against the Mustangs, who struggled against the Niles pressure defense.

Niles would continue to roll, leading 66-34 when McLaughlin connected on a 3-pointer with 1:27 to play in the period.

Portage Central would make it 66-39 at the buzzer on a steal and score by Templeton.

Play got a little sloppy in the opening minutes of the final quarter, but a couple baskets by the Vikings’ reserves settle the game back down.

“We shared the ball real well tonight and made some shots,” Pawielski said. “We were able to get the ball to kids who had their feet set and had a great look at the basket.

“We are very pleased with what we did offensively. We just said that Taylor was playing great and let’s make sure to get the ball inside to him and Quintin. The kids up top, Matthew and Austin did a real nice job of seeing the entire floor tonight.”

Campbell led a balanced Niles attack with 16 points, while Irby finished and Parks finished with 15 and McLaughlin 13.

Alex Harning and Templeton both scored 13 for the Mustangs.

Niles returns to action Friday night as it hosts Benton Harbor in a key early season West Division clash.

PORTAGE CENTRAL 59

Alex Harning 4 4-4 13, Devrin Hill 2 3-4 7, Nate Casanto 2 0-0 4, Graham Kushner 0 0-0 0, Derek Schneider 2 0-0 5, Ryan Alkhamis 0 1-2 1, Daniel Tumm 3 4-6 10, Skyler Mills 1 0-0 3, Andrew Whitehead 0 0-0 0, Logan Templeton 5 0-0 13, Jake Flight 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 20 12-16 59

NILES 84

Taylor Campbell 5 4-4 16, Quinton Irby 5 5-7 15, Mitchell Dehn 1 0-0 2, Austin Parks 6 0-0 15, Matthew McLaughlin 5 0-0 13, Alexander Brown 2 0-1 5, Anthoney Bice 3 0-0 6, Logan Harpenau 3 1-1 8, Brandon Partee 0 0-0 0, Aaron Pierce 1 0-0 2, Arias Williams 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 32 10-13 84

Portage Central 9 26 39 59

Niles 19 39 66 84

3-point baskets: Portage Central 7 (Templeton 3, Harning 1, Schneider 1, Mills 1, Flight 1), Niles 10 (Parks 3, McLaughlin 3, Campbell 2, Brown 1, Harpenau 1). Total fouls: Portage Central 17, Niles 13. Varsity records: Niles 1-0, Portage Central 0-1