Niles boys basketball coach Todd Pawielski didn’t have to go very far to find out information about the Vikings’ opponent tonight.

After all, Pawielski’s team will be facing Kalamazoo Central for the third time this season when the two collide for the Class A District championship tonight.

Niles dropped both games to the Maroon Giants this season, 71-56 and 68-59.

“Kalamazoo Central is a good basketball team,” Pawielski said. “They won our division this year, played a nice schedule and know how to win. They are very long and athletic around the rim and have a pair of guards that can turn the corner and get to the rim quickly.”

Niles has struggled against teams that can attack the basket.

“Letting opponents get to the rim has been a huge problem all year that we are not likely to fix,” Pawielski said.

He added that for Niles to be successful against the Maroon Giants, they must take care of the basketball and get up a lot of shots.

“Kalamazoo Central has had a lot of success making us turn the ball over and getting their own rebound on missed shots,” Pawielski said. “It will be difficult for us to win the rebounding game. We really need to take care of the basketball tonight and have less than 10 turnovers to have a chance.”

The Vikings have not always played the prettiest basketball this season according to Pawielski, but they have not given up in many games either.

“Our kids find a way,” he said. “Our seniors, Matthew Miller, Jeremy Wortham, Connor Glick and Tate Brawley deserve a ton of credit for getting our team to this point. These guys made sure we did things the right way on and off the court every day no matter what our record was.”

Pawielski is also pleased with the way the underclassmen have developed as the year went along and credits his senior class for that.

“Our junior guards have improved every game and our sophomore big man has been a star at times, but none of that would have been possible without the character and work ethic of four outstanding seniors,” he said. “We say it all the time with our kids — year after year— you’re only as good as your seniors.”

Tip-off for tonight’s title game at Kalamazoo Central is set for 7 p.m.

The game can be heard live on WNIL (1290 AM) and on Southwest Michigan Sports.

You can find periodic updates on Twitter by following @chiefs00.