NILES — On a strange night, that included a more than 30-minute injury delay, host Niles was able to put together 48 minutes of ‘gutsy’ basketball to defeat Portage Northern 50-49 in its SMAC West Division opener Friday night.

The effort given by the Vikings from the start to the finish allowed coach Patrick Touhey to pick up his first win as the boys basketball coach.

Touhey coached Niles’ girls program from 2009 to 2014. He was named the boys basketball coach in June.

Friday night’s game was emotionally charged from the outset, with play getting more physical by the minute before Portage Northern standout Myles Johnson tried to dunk, landed awkwardly and suffered a compound fracture to his leg.

Officials rushed onto the court, and got Johnson’s leg immobilized under the direction of Niles trainer Bob Taylor. He was taken to South Bend, where Portage Northern officials commented via Twitter that he had a successful surgery.

Johnson’s injury calmed down the emotion of the game as the two teams tried to deal with what they had witnessed.

Niles was able to shake off the injury before the Huskies and was able to regain its aggressive form at both ends of the court, holding off Portage Northern for the win.

“These kids have worked so hard at the character and mental side of their game,” Touhey said. “What they committed to, as well as the entire coaching staff, is we have to create an atmosphere of respect, love, trust and compassion. If we can do that for each other, and we can demonstrate excellence at all times, we have to let go of outcomes and winning.”

Winning had become everything to the program,Touhey said.

“Everything was so tied to winning,” he said. “When they weren’t winning, they dove deep into a funk.”

Niles (1-1) led much of the contest, including 18-10 after one and 39-38 heading into the fourth.

The Huskies (1-1) were able to take the lead briefly in the closing minutes.

Cerious Wilson canned a pair of free throws to give Niles the lead for good in the final seconds.

Adrian Thomas led the Vikings with 12 points, while Wilson finished with 10. Nate Goins added nine.

Niles will travel to Kalamazoo Loy Norrix for its final game before Christmas break on Tuesday.