By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The St. Joseph Bears spoiled Niles' chance of a homecoming win Friday evening as they took a 56-48 SMAC West Division victory over the Vikings.
This was Niles' first home game in exactly one month and its first game in two weeks, with the last game coming against Mishawaka Penn on Jan. 27.
Head coach Todd Pawielski said the two weeks off did not effect his team, as they have been practicing hard and came out ready to play Friday.
"We just didn't score when we needed to and did a poor job of adjusting to the way the game was played," Pawielski said.
During the final four minutes of the game, Niles failed to make a bucket, which allowed St. Joe to go on a 9-0 run. At the 5:01 mark, the Vikes trailed by just one point, 44-43.
With 1:05 remaining, Mat Peters made one free throw, but the Bears already held a 53-44 lead. Josh Moffitt and Demetrius Phillips scored one basket each in the final 35 seconds of the game.
The entire contest never went out of reach for the Vikes, who trailed by no more than five points for the first three quarters.
At the 6:07 mark of the third, St. joe took the biggest lead of the night, 44-37. It was short-lived, though, as Danny Rodts scored a 3-pointer and one bucket to put the Vikes right back in the game.
"We just need to get smarter in our adjustment and we need to be better in the final four minutes of the game," Pawielski added.
Rodts led Niles in scoring with 14 points and six rebounds. Jordan Parks added 10 points.
For St. Joe, Deke Knuth led all scorers with 23 points, including three 3-pointers. Brad Guinane added 12 points for the Bears.
St. Joseph went to the line 27 times in the game and made 20 free throws. Niles was just 7-of-17.
The Vikings will travel to Battle Creek Central for a make up game on Tuesday. Freshmen will begin at 4:15 p.m., with junior varsity and varsity following.
Niles … 48
St. Joseph … 56
NILES (48) – Jordan Parks 3 1 1-2 10, Damian Bryant 1 2-4 4, Josh Moffitt 1 1 0-1 5, Seth Jordan 0 0-0 0, Andre Thompson 1 1-2 3, Danny Rodts 3 2 2-4 14, Taylor Williams 0 0-0 0, Demetrius Phillips 0 1 0-0 3, Taylor Robson 0 0-0 0, Jonathan Smith 0 0-0 0, Mat Peters 1 1-2 3, Kurt Bourbonnais 2 0-0 4. Totals: 12 5 7-17 48
ST. JOSEPH (56) – Greg Etter 1 0-1 2, Ethan Schweir 0 0-0 0, Deke Knuth 3 3 8-10 23, Tyler Archer 3 1-2 7, Burnell Granderson 0 1-2 1, Kevin O'Connell 0 2-2 2, Ben Lubbers 0 0-0 0, Sean Guinane 2 2-4 6, Brad Guinane 3 6-6 12, Brett Virgil 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 3 20-27 56.
Niles 7 19 35 48
St. Joseph 9 23 38 56