Nick Shrewsberry scored a career high 37 points on Senior Night as Saint Joe outlasted arch rival Marian 78-66 to win the Northern Indiana Conference Championship in front of a raucous sold out crowd at Alumni Gym Friday on our Sports Michiana Game of the Week.

Saint Joe jumped out to an early 13-2 lead but Marian quickly climbed back into it and took a 29-28 lead into halftime of the 94th Holy War on the Hardwood.

The Huskies regained the lead in the 3rd quarter and Shrewsberry hit a monster three off an inbounds pass with less than a second remaining to put Saint Joe ahead 57-50 heading to the 4th. Saint Joe rode the momentum and dominated the 4th quarter for the win.

Eric Gaff’s squad improves to 6-0 in the NIC, winning their first conference championship since 2008 when they had to share it. With the NIC’s new tiebreaker rules, there is no sharing this one, Saint Joe will be recognized as the champions thanks to wins over Penn and Riley. The Huskies will still have something to play for in their NIC finale against New Prairie. A win would mark the first time in school history that Saint Joe would win a boys basketball NIC title with no one else being able to make any form of claim to it.

The Huskies are now 16-4 overall, winning their 9th straight game. They have Goshen, New Prairie and Mishawaka left on the regular season schedule.

Marian falls to 11-7 overall and 3-3 in the NIC. The Knights close the season against St. Thomas More, LaLumiere Regional and LaPorte.