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Niles knocks off Penn to improve to 2-1
Published 10:08am Wednesday, December 16, 2009By AMELIO RODRIGUEZ
Niles Daily Star
Myles Busby scored nine of his 17 points in the fourth period, all from the charity stripe, to help the Niles Vikings boys’ varsity basketball team to a big, non-conference win against the Penn Kingsmen.
The Kingsmen, with a record of 2-1 came across the state line to face Niles (1-1) trying to improve their record to 3-1 on the season. However, the hosts from the North had other plans for their out of state opponent.
Niles jumped out early with solid defense, precise shooting, and a whole lot of hustle.
“I thought we came out and played like we were supposed to, we guarded people pretty well full court, we shot the ball well tonight. We didn’t really run good offense, but we shot the ball well tonight, and we built just enough lead to hang on,” said Niles coach Todd Pawielski, when asked about his teams play in the first half.
The Vikings had a 17-8 lead after the first stanza, led by David Garner’s eight points, Mitchell Peterek’s four and solid defense by Matt McLauglin and Austin Parks.
The second frame was much of the same with Niles building to a 36-19 halftime lead, behind a great defensive effort that led to some great scoring opportunities.
The hosts capitalized on the majority of those scoring opportunities in the first half with Garner notching 12 of his team-high 18 before the break, while guards McLaughlin and Parks pitched in with eight and six respectively.
The visiting Kingsmen came out of the locker room determined to get themselves back into the game, and that they did. By the end of the third period they had trimmed the Niles lead down to 10 points, at 48-38.
“I thought we scored enough points in the third quarter, we just stopped guarding and rebounding a little bit. Penn came out pretty energized and physical, they did a nice job of getting themselves back into the game,” commented Pawielski about the second half. “They took David (Garner) away from some of the things that we like to do, but I think he had 17 points tonight, and if that is an off night, then we’ll take it.”
With a double-digit lead heading into the final period, the Vikings were about to find out how well they could shoot free throws. On this night they stepped up to the charity stripe and knocked them down when they mattered the most.
“Myles Busby was really solid for us tonight, he did a great job of hitting his free throws tonight, and he had five rebounds, he did a real nice job tonight,” Pawielski noted.
The sophomore led the hosts hitting for nine of the team’s 16 free throws in the final period.
The Vikings had a balanced attack tonight with six players getting on the scoreboard, and four of those six in double digits. Garner led all scorers with 18, followed by Busby with 17, Parks with 14, McLaughlin with 13, Peterek with six and Lucero with two.
Niles advances to 2-1 on the season and will host the Benton Harbor Tigers on Friday night.
The visitors were led by Jordan Brady and Jeffrey Laidig with 13 apiece, Nathan Laidig with 11.
PENN 59
Allan Barnes 1 0-0 2, Jordan Brady 6 1-2 13, Chris Chaffee 1 5-6 7, Alex Hendershot 3 3-4 9, Jeff Laidig 4 5-6 13, Nate Laidig 3 1-2 9, Eric Perry 1 0-2 2, DeSean Prentice 0 0-0 0, Brad Slott 0 0-0 0, Leo Svete 1 2-2 4, Tim Wilson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20 17-24 59
NILES 70
David Garner 7 4-7 18, Myles Busby 4 9-11 17, Matthew McLaughlin 4 2-3 13, Austin Parks 5 4-4 14, Jordan Potthoff 0 0-0 0, Mitch Peterek 1 4-5 6, Quinton Irby 0 0-0 0, Riley Robson 0 0-0 0, Nate Lucero 0 2-4 2, Zach Prenkert 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 25-34 70
Penn 8 19 38 59
Niles 17 36 48 70
3-point goals: Penn 2 (N. Laidig 2), Niles 3 (McLaughlin 3). Total fouls: Penn 26, Niles 19. Fouled out: N. Laidig (P), Hendershot (P), Varsity records: Penn 2-2, Niles 2-1. JV score: Niles 54 (Taylor Campbell 18, Logan Harpenau 17), Penn 53 (Leo Svete 13)
