EDWARDSBURG — Josh Kozinski and Kyle Slack combined for 37 of Edwardsburg’s 55 points Tuesday night as the Eddies edged visiting White Pigeon 55-51.

Edwardsburg (1-0 trailed 19-10 after one quarter of play, but rallied to tie the score at 26 by halftime.

The Eddies again trailed after three quarter (39-37) only to outscore the Chiefs 18-12 in the final eight minutes to rally for the victory.

Kozinski finished with 21 points and Slack 16. Edwardsburg also got five points from Dominic Razzano.

White Pigeon’s Tannor Nichols led all scorers with 27 points. Matt Crowl added 10 points for the Chiefs.

WHITE PIGEON 51

Zach Gropp 0; Branson Salyer 3; Tanner Nichols 27; Eric Johnson 0; Tyler Chantrenne 5; Robbie Gibson 6; Matt Crowl 10. TOTALS: 21 3-7 51

EDWARDSBURG 55

Evan VanBelle 0; Jason Schimpa 1; Ethan Zimmerman 4; Max Habicht 0; Austin Meadows 2; Dominic Razzano 5; Josh Kozonski 21; Patrick Harvey 4 Eric Richardson 2; Kyle Slack 16; Abenicio Corboba-Wilson 0. TOTALS: 17 18-28 55

White Pigeon 19 26 39 51

Edwardsburg 10 26 37 55

3-point baskets: White Pigeon 6 (Salyer, Nichols 5), Edwardsburg 3 (Kozinski 3). Total fouls (fouled out): White Pigeon 17 (none), Edwardsburg 3 (none). Varsity records: White Pigeon 0-1, Edwardsburg 1-0

Portage Central…59

Niles…84

NILES —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.

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.

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

Cassopolis…50

Hartford…67

HARTFORD – Host Hartford scored 29 first quarter points to roll to an easy 67-50 win over Cassopolis Monday night.

The Rangers (0-1) trailed 29-10 after one quarter of play and never really were able to challenge the Indians (1-0). Hartford led 42-21 at halftime.

Cassopolis did outscore Hartford 29-25 in the second half.

Konner Bulat was the lone Indian player to reach double figures as he scored a game-high 14 points.

Dwayne Morgan led the Rangers with 10 points, Quintin O’Brie, Kenneth Carlson and Mitchell Moore all netted nine points.

CASSOPOLIS 50

Quintin O’Brie 9, Dwayne Morgan 10, B.J. Wallace 4, Damion Brown 0, Vinnie Sopasueth 2, Kenneth Carlson 9, Ryan Hawkins 2, Vashaun Morgan 0, Justin Smith 2, Mitchell Moore 9, Taylor Baker 3. TOTALS: 17 15-23 50
HARTFORD 67

Juan Perez 8, Josh Ryan 2, Konner Bulat 14, Jalen Strand 4, Jesus Gomez 3, Jared Meachum 4, Jimmy Mullins 5, Sergio Perez 4, Luke traver 6, Justin Wenger 7, Joey Goble 4, Danny Martinez 3, Gareth MacMillan 3. TOTALS: 23 15-24 67

Cassopolis 10 21 29 50

Hartford 29 42 54 67

3-point goals: Cassopolis 1 (Moore 1), Hartford 6 (Bulat 4, J. Perez 2). Total fouls (fouled out): Cassopolis 22, Hartford 22. Varsity records: Hartford 1-0, Cassopolis 0-1