From staff reports

The Niles Ring Lardner seventh grade boys’ basketball team defeated Buchanan 35-19 Tuesday night.

Tim McCaffrey, Devin Kuemin, Shevin Yazel and Christian Brill played outstanding defense. Zack Plummer, Tyler Phillips and Gavin Rasler controlled the boards well.

Jared Purucker threw several good passes and led the team in assists. Trey Hubbs came off the bench, playing solid defense and scoring two points.

Eighth grade

The eighth grade boys’ basketball team survived an ugly slugfest against Buchanan Tuesday night to improve its mark to 7-2 on the season.

Poor shooting and a lack of rebounding forced the Vikings to grind out the 27-17 victory on the defensive end.

Raquon Glenn and Dalton Raymond led Niles with nine and eight points respectively. David Kennedy and Gabe Stokes added four points and Jalen Alexander two points.

“There are not a lot of positives to talk about after a game like this one,” Niles coach Mike Gallo said. “It is always nice to earn a victory, but I credit Buchanan for their effort. They got almost every loose ball and clearly wanted to win more than we did tonight. We were just able to keep them off the scoreboard with our defense all night.

“Fortunately we have a kid like Dalton Raymond who always brings energy and hustle every second he is on the floor. Besides scoring, he does so many little things that most people probably never notice that help give us a chance to win every night,” he added.

The eighth grade squad used pressure defense and unselfish play to defeat Berrien Springs 44-25 Monday night.

Stokes paced the Vikings early in the game driving to the basket on his way to 10 points. Adam Langmeyer and Alex Hardy both knocked down 3-pointers in the first quarter that helped the Vikings get off to a good start, but the Shamrocks were able to hang around only trailing by six at halftime.

The third quarter saw the Vikings get off to a quick start on their way to scoring 18 points.

Kennedy and Raymond got the Vikings going offensively, while Sean Craig’s defense and steals set the tone on the other end. Glenn closed the door on the Shamrocks with three consecutive steals for lay-ups towards the end of the quarter on his way to a team-high 12 points.

More importantly, Glenn dished out two great passes in transition that set up his teammates for easy baskets.

The Vikings had a balanced scoring attack that saw nine players score. Craig, Daquan Voight,and Alex Bata were also scorers for the Vikings.