By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
A late surge lifted the Lakeshore Lancers to a 56-50 victory over Niles Tuesday night at Dowagiac Union High School.
Trailing by three points with 6:02 to play in Class B District Tournament opener, Lakeshore rallied to pull out a 56-50 victory to advance to Wednesday's semifinal against St. Joseph.
Niles' Nate Parks was whistled for his fourth foul with the Vikings holding onto a 41-39 advantage with just over six minutes remaining in the contest.
Vikings' coach Denny Parks, who happens to also be Nate's father, felt that Lakeshore set an illegal screen on the play.
Parks called a time out to voice his displeasure with the call.
The Lancers quickly took advantage to Parks being on the bench and turned the deficit into a 46-41 lead with 5:05 remaining.
Niles (8-13)was able to cut the Lancers' lead to a basket on several occasions, but couldn't come up with that big basket to pull back ahead.
Lakeshore's lead shrank to two points, 50-48, with 45 seconds remaining on a basket by Ben Hansen, but that would be as close as the Vikings would get.
Lakeshore (14-7) increased its lead to 52-48 on a pair of free throws by Shaine Tierney but Niles came right back to make it 52-50 on a jumper by Parks with 22 seconds left on the clock.
Joe Welch sealed the victory with two free throws with six seconds remaining.
Early on it looked like the Lancers were going make short work of the Vikings.
Niles trailed 17-4 with 3:08 to play in the opening quarter, but rallied to cut the deficit to 19-8 by the end of the period.
The Vikings continued on the comeback trail in the second quarter and closed to 21-17 with 2:51 to play in the first half on a jumper by Thomas Robson.
Lakeshore extended its lead to 24-17 on a pair of free throws by Tierney, however, the Vikings weren't done yet.
Niles made it 24-21 on a basket by Pete Brandstatter with 57 seconds remaining in the opening half.
Lakeshore was able to score the last basket of the half to take a 27-21 lead into the lockerroom at the intermission.
Neither team was able to build much momentum in the third quarter.
Niles cut the Lakeshore lead to 29-27 with 3:24 to play on a jumper by Brandon Thomas.
The Vikings then tied the game at 29-29 on another jumper by Thomas 24 seconds later.
Lakeshore edged ahead 30-29 on a free throw by Logan Wilke, before Niles grabbed a 31-30 lead on a third straight jumper by Thomas.
Lakeshore reclaimed the lead with 1:31 to play in the third quarter on a basket by Welch.
The Lancers extended their advantage to 36-33 on a layup by Welch before Niles cut the lead to 36-35 on a pair of free throws Hansen.
Niles, which shot just 39 percent from the field, was led by Hansen's 12 points. Parks added 11 points, while Etzcorn and Thomas both finished with 10.
Lakeshore was led by Tierney's game-high 17 points. The Lancers, who shot 44 percent from the floor, also got 14 points from Welch.
Dowagiac vs. Coloma
In another rematch from the 2004 district tournament, Dowagiac is scheduled to take on Coloma tonight in the other first round contest.
Dowagiac upset the Comets last year on its way to the district finals against Lakeshore.
Dowagiac coach Greg Blomgren feels that his squad is poised for another upset and another run in the district tournament.
Blomgren also knows that the Comets will be looking for revenge.
Blomgren said that defense will be the difference tonight.
Dowagiac will need to concentrate on Milo Jeffries and Sebastian Lewis out front and Jake Boven and Terrell Evans down low.
LAKESHORE 56
Nick DeBoer 2 2-2 8, Shaine Tierney 6 5-7 17, Time Frakes 3 0-0 7, Kolby Smith 0 2-2 2, Joe Welch 5 4-4 14, Jason Woodrick 0 0-0 0, Logan Wilke 2 1-4 5, Eric Rue 0 0-0 0, Dustin Barinka 1 0-0 3, Ken Welch 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 14-19 56
NILES 50
Thomas Robson 1 0-0 2, Nate Parks 5 0-1 11, Paul Wreggelsworth 0 0-0 0, Nick Etzcorn 5 0-0 10, Peter Brandstatter 1 3-4 5, Nate Orr 0 0-0 0, Scott Quaye 0 0-0 0, Ben Hansen 5 2-2 21, Brandon Thomas 5 0-2 10, Lavette Walker 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 5-9 50
Lakeshore 19 27 36 56
Niles 8 21 35 50
Three-point baskets: Lakeshore 4 (DeBoer 2, Frakes, Barinka), Niles 1 (Parks). Total fouls: Lakeshore 14, Niles 18. Fouled out: Parks (N). Technical fouls: None.