Staff photo / Greg Macafee Girard's Gus Johnson goes up for a layup in their 66-37 victory over Niles.

NILES — The Girard Indians improved to 12-2 on the season, and a perfect 8-0 in the Northeast 8, with a 66-37 victory at home against Niles on Tuesday.

Although the Indians have won five games in a row, they won the previous four by a combined 13 points. They also pulled out a 45-44 victory over Niles in their first meeting on Dec. 9, and followed it up with a one-point win against Cardinal Mooney the next day.

“We made more shots tonight,” Girard coach Craig Hannon said. “We struggled shooting the ball last week. Tonight, the ball went in the hoop. We have confidence in these guys. They have to have confidence in themselves. Once a couple of shots fell, I think it got contagious.”

Niles had an early lead and after Girard went ahead 13-10 in the second, junior Anthony Budak tied it up by completing an and-one. Senior Matt Kozak led the Red Dragons (9-5, 4-4) with 11 points.

“Girard is a much different team than they were the first time we played them,” Niles coach Doug Foster said. “Their defense is really good. They have players that get after it for 32 minutes.

“They have a nice group. They rebounded. They pushed. They controlled the tempo. They just out-manned us.”

Gus Johnson (game-high 19 points), who can throw down dunks with the best in the area, just missed following up a missed shot with a huge slam.

Thomas Cardiero (15 points) later found him with a nice assist, and then Cardiero nailed one from downtown on good inbound play and Girard went ahead 27-17 at halftime.

Senior Jordan Johnson made a 3-pointer from the corner to start the third, and he made another from behind the arc after Cardiero did the same, as the Indians pulled away.

“My teammates were driving to the hoop,” Jordan Johnson said. “They kicked it out, and I was wide open in the corner. This feels amazing. We’re going to celebrate now, and then we’re going to keep on winning.”

Gus Johnson had a beautiful, no-look, assist to Bobby Alejars, and Mike Palmer laid it in as the third quarter came to an end. Girard led 49-26 heading to the fourth.

Cardiero scored inside. Gus Johnson went with a finger-roll instead of a dunk, and senior Ryan Fitzgerald hustled and scored as the Indians finished off another victory.

“We played well,” said Fitzgerald. “It was a good team win. We all contributed. Our intensity was really good. We kept our foot on the pedal.

“The last time we played Niles, we had a 19-point lead. They came back, but we pulled it out by one. This time, we didn’t let up. We didn’t slow down at all.”

They certainly didn’t, and Hannon couldn’t be prouder.

“We came out ready to go in the second half,” he said. ” We’re a veteran group. We have seven seniors. They work hard. They do everything right. They’re good students. They’re good people.

“It’s carrying over on the basketball court. They took their lumps in their freshman and sophomore years building towards this.”