BUCHANAN — Visiting Niles held off a late Buchanan charge to pick up a 62-57 non-conference boys basketball victory over the Bucks in the debut of Tyler Dendy Tuesday night.

The Vikings (1-0) built up a 50-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter before Buchanan made a run over the final eight minutes.

The Bucks (0-1) outscored Niles 20-12 in the fourth quarter, but could not overcome the early deficit.

“I was very pleased with how we played overall,” Dendy said. “We played three solid quarters against a well-coached team in Buchanan. Their kids played extremely hard, and it was a hard-fought win. We faced some adversity in the second half, but found a way to win. The play of senior Austin Brookins in the second half was huge for us. He stepped up when we needed him.”

Brookins scored a team-high 22 points for Niles, which also got 15  points from Jordan Brown and 11 points from Brayden Lake.

Buchanan was led offensively by Chris Young’s game-high 26 points. Logan Carson finished with 16 points for the Bucks.

Niles is back on the court tonight as it hosts Mattawan in its SMAC opener secheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m.

The Bucks travel to Bridgman for the BCS Athletic Conference of opener. That game is also slated to begin at 7:15 p.m.