The Ring Lardner seventh grade boys’ basketball team won its finale game Wednesday night as it defeated Lakeshore 41-20.

Leading the Vikings in scoring were Gavin Rasler with 11 points and Joe Avance with eight. Tim McCaffrey played outstanding defense and had four points. Zack Plummer had four points and six rebounds.

Niles fell to St. Joe Tuesday night 42-21.

Avance led the way with 15 points and 10 rebounds. McCaffrey and Devin Kuemin chipped in with solid defense.

Eighth grade

The eighth grade boys’ basketball team finished its season 9-2 with a 43-23 victory at home over rival Lakeshore.

Solid defense, rebounding and contributions from the entire team made this one of the most satisfying wins of the season.

“It is not very often where you get a chance for a convincing victory where everybody gets to play a lot of minutes and make positive contributions throughout the entire game,” Niles coach Mike Gallo said. “We have two of those games in a row, and I could not think of a better way to end the season for a great group of kids.”

Niles had a 13-4 lead after the first quarter following Sean Craig’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer. The Vikings carried that same margin into the locker room at halftime and steadily pushed the lead throughout the second half.

Raquon Glenn led the team with 10 points despite sitting much of the first half with foul trouble, but it was his passing that has opened up the scoring for the Vikings the past two nights.

“All year we have been trying to get Ray to make the extra pass, and the last two nights he has done just that.  Playing with a guard like him sets up so many scoring opportunities for other players, and it has been nice to see Ray start to enjoy getting assists as much as he does points.”

Besides Craig and Glenn, eight other Viking players scored — Gabe Stokes, Trey Kyles, Alex Hardy, Dalton Raymond, Adam Langmeyer, David Kennedy, Alex Bata and Devontae Woods.

“Overall it has been a very good year for the kids and our program. The best part was seeing how excited the kids were for each other the last two nights.  This has been a very hardworking group with a lot of kids that represented their school and their families very well throughout the entire season,” Gallo said.

Niles raced out to a 17-0 lead on its way to a dominating 43-18 victory over visiting St. Joe Tuesday night.

Great defense and unselfish play in transition created numerous layups and open shots early in the game.

Glenn finished with eight points and numerous steals and assists.  A couple of those assists were to Stokes who finished with a team high 14 points. Other scorers were Kyles with six points, Sam Rodts with five points, David Kennedy with four points and Daquon Voight, Jalen Alexander  and Dalton Raymond with two points.