Pirates find some offensive production in conference finale

GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL

Grady Kroeplin scored a career-high 18 points and Gilman scored a conference- high 49 points for the season Monday night, but it still wasn’t enough to hang with the Greenwood Indians, who took control late in the first half and ran out to a 69-49 win on the Pirates’ home floor.

The game demonstrated some of the offensive progress the Pirates have made in season’s home stretch. For the second time in a week-long stretch, they put three players in double figures in the scoring column with Caleb Marion scoring 13 and Branden Ustianowski adding 11.

Kroeplin and Ustianowski, in particular, aggressively attacked the basket at times, creating some offense off the dribble. Marion was able to clean up some offensive rebounds and finished on some of the guards’ penetration.

“We’re starting to get there,” head coach Bobbi Marion said after Monday’s loss about the team’s offensive progress. “We struggled against Owen, but even against Flambeau we put a few more on the board. We just haven’t put it all together. We had a better game against Columbus too.”

Gilman’s zone defense held Greenwood in check for about the first 12 minutes Monday. Kroeplin’s drive from the left side got Gilman within 14-8, but then Indians started creating distance, beating Gilman with some transition baskets off defensive rebounds and getting other scores off Pirate turnovers.

Ryver Glynn, who poured in 30 points for the visitors, sparked the run with a 3-pointer, an outlet pass to Christian Thomas, a steal and score and two free throws. Suddenly, Greenwood was up 31-10 before Gilman got scores from Ustianowski and Brayden Olynick. But Glynn’s bucket with two seconds left pushed Greenwood’s halftime lead back to 19 at 33-14.

Kroeplin opened the second half with a 3-pointer. He added another basket, while Ustianowski got two and Olynick got another. Kroeplin’s second triple made it 44-28 with about 13:00 left, but the Indians put the game away with a 9-0 run that included five points from Glynn to pull away for good.

Kroeplin scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half and Ustianowski got nine of his after halftime as well. Marion scored seven of his points after the break. Olynick finished with four points and Dalton Wisocky added three.

Gilman’s 22 made shots from the field was its second-best total of the season behind the 26 makes the Pirates had one week earlier at Lake Holcombe.

“We pretty much have everyone coming back next year,” coach Marion said. “It’s definitely a young team that will have some potential coming into the next couple of years.”

Greenwood (2-12 conference, 5-16 overall) also got 14 points from Thomas and 11 from Rogan Travis as it clinched seventh place in the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference standings.

Gilman (0-14, 0-21) finishes its regular season tonight, Thursday, by hosting the eighth-place game of the Cloverbelt Conference crossovers. Cadott, who finished 1-13 in the Western Cloverbelt will be the opponent.

The 16th-seeded Pirates will travel to top-seeded Clear Lake (21-2) Tuesday in the first round of WIAA Division 5 tournament.

Flambeau 82, Gilman 21

The Pirates ran into the third seed in the Division 5 sectional half-bracket Friday, the Flambeau Falcons, who had no trouble outscoring the Pirates 82-21 to cap a cancer benefit doubleheader at Flambeau High School. Flambeau’s girls beat Bruce in the first game.

The East Lakeland Conference champions, who finished the regular season 23-1, got a big night from their leading scorer, Harley Opachan, who had seven 3s on his way to 29 points.

Gilman got eight points from Caleb Marion and four from Zack Marion. Kroeplin hit a pair of 3s to finish with six and Ustianowski added four, including a 3-pointer.