By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - They say it's always hard to beat a team three times in a row and Tuesday evening's game between Niles and host St. Joseph proved that.
After defeating St. Joseph twice in the regular season, 67-66 and 51-44, the Bears got revenge in the opening round of the Class B District Tournament by grabbing a 61-48 win.
St. Joe, now 15-6 overall, advances to Thursday's semifinal game against Dowagiac at 7 p.m. The Chieftains are 4-16 heading into the game.
St. Joe had a 44-36 lead with 5:23 left in the fourth period. That's when Niles went on a 10-0 run, getting a three-pointer and a free throw from Ben Hansen, two free throws from Nick Etzcorn and four points from Brandon Thomas to take a 46-44 lead with just over one minute to play.
Brad Guinane scored the tying basket for the Bears with 38 seconds left, giving the Vikes one last possession to try to win the game.
Thomas drove the ball inside the paint and went up for a shot, which was blocked out of bounds by Guinane.
With 1.8 seconds on the clock, Niles' out of bounds play fell short when Hansen went up for a shot that bounced off the rim, sending the game to overtime tied at 46.
That's where the Bears took charge, as Niles struggled to make a basket.
The Vikes went 1-for-8 from the field, getting their only bucket from Hansen with 1:26 to play.
St. Joe went on to score 13 additional points before claiming the upset win.
Hansen led the team with 13 points on the night. Thomas had 12, Etzcorn had eight and Nate Parks had six.
For St. Joe, David Clore had 18 points, Jared Knuth added 15 and Guinane had 11.
The Vikes end the season with a 12-9 overall record and hold the title of Big 16 West Division Conference champions.
NILES 48
Nick Etzcorn 3 2-2 8, Brandon Thomas 4 2-3 12, Pete Brandstatter 2 0-0 4, Tom Robson 1 0-0 3, Nate Parks 2 2-3 6, Danny Rodts 1 0-1 2, Ben Hansen 5 1-2 13, Nate Orr 0 0-0 0, Mathew Peters 0 0-0 0, Paul Dreher 0 0-0 0, Jordan Parks 0 0-1 0, Joshua Moffitt 0 0-0 0, Demetrius Phillips 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 7-12 48.
ST. JOSEPH 61
David Clore 6 5-7 18, Jared Knuth 4 6-8 15, Brad Guinane 4 2-2 11, Steven Dahn 3 0-0 8, Jake Olson 2 3-4 7, Greg Etter 0 0-0 0, Deke Knuth 1 0-0 2, Corey Scott 0 0-0 0, Zach Kerns 0 0-0 0, Myles Sanford 0 0-0 0, Brandon Garrison 0 0-0 0, Tyler Archer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 16-21 61
Niles 15 28 34 46 48
St. Joseph 17 30 39 46 61
Three-point baskets: Hansen (N) 2, Thomas (N) 2, Robson (N), Dahn (SJ) 2, Clore (SJ), Knuth (SJ), Guinane (SJ). Total fouls: Niles 17, St. Joseph 12. Fouled out: Etzcorn. Varsity records: Niles 12-9, St. Joseph 15-6