GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL - Pirates close out second league win over Indians

GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL

There have been many moments of frustration for Gilman boys basketball coaches Tyler Pockat and Cory Halida as they try to set the foundation for turning that program around, which they knew there would be.

There are also successful moments along the way which show progress is being made. The ups and downs were both present Tuesday in a game that ended on the positive side with a 43-30 win at Greenwood.

The victory snapped an eight-game losing skid that started after Gilman’s last win against Greenwood, a 53-25 victory on Dec. 15. The Pirates are now 3-14 overall and 2-8 in the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference. The two wins over Greenwood should go a long way in keeping Gilman out of the league’s bottom spot for the first time in four years.

“It’s going to be better,” Pockat said after Tuesday’s win. “We knew it was going to be a rough year, but it is getting better. When they start knowing the system a little bit better, we’ll be all right.”

Tuesday’s win didn’t come easily against the now 0-16 Indians, who certainly targeted this one as a game they could get. Other than trailing 3-2, the Pirates led the whole way, but the Indians crept back in it every time Gilman tried to create separation.

That is, until the final five minutes when, for the most part, the Pirates were solid with the basketball, got a couple of key baskets from freshman Beau Pockat and then hit seven of 10 free throws. That salted it away and exorcised any demons that might have remained from a meltdown in the same gym just over a year ago when a late lead got away from the Pirates, ruining their best chance for a win last season.

“It was pretty good the way they closed it out,” Pockat said.

The Pirates rode balanced scoring to the win with five players scoring six points or more. Brayden Olynick got himself into early foul trouble for the second straight night with three fouls in the first nine minutes, but he didn’t get any more and finished with nine points. Logan Halida and Joey Syryczuk scored eight apiece and Max Ustianowski and Caleb Marion scored six each inside.

Greenwood went with an aggressive 2-3 zone defensively that Gilman had mixed results in attacking. When the Pirates were at their best against it, they got their high and low posts involved, using the short corner to their advantage. Ustianowski scored all six of his points in the first half and assisted to Olynick for another basket as Gilman built a 20-9 lead but settled for a 20-13 halftime lead after a couple of late miscues.

The posts went back to work to start the second half as Dalton Wisocky, from the high post, hit Marion down low for two scores that made it 24-13. Greenwood got within 24-20 when Sawyer Winger hit a crucial 3-pointer to stop the run with 12:38 left and Joey Syryczuk hit a jumper off a kickout pass from Olynick when the defense collapsed on him in the high post. Marion hit a high post jumper to make it 31-20 before the Indians made another little run to get within seven.

Pockat scored just four points, but his two baskets came at crunch time. On the first, his teammates found him all alone behind the Indians defense after a scramble for possession on Greenwood’s offensive end. Pockat backcut and scored off an Olynick assist for a 36-24 lead with 4:30 left and, from there, it was just about taking care of the ball and knocking down free throws.

Gilman was eight of 14 on free throws in the win. Winger finished with three points and Tony Syryczuk scored one while defending Greenwood’s top offensive threat, Keagan Gipe, most of the way in either Gilman’s box-and-one or man-to-man defenses. Gipe scored just three points. Big man James Durrstein led the Indians with 13 points.

Gilman is home now for most of February starting with Friday’s game with Neillsville. The Pirates host Phillips in a 6 p.m. non-conference game Monday and then welcome Loyal on Feb. 8 in a 7:15 tip time.

Bruce 71, Gilman 43

RyanPopowichandSpencerHautamaki provided a one-two punch that Gilman could not contain Monday in a 71-43 nonconference loss to visiting Bruce.

Popowich, who came in averaging 22.3 points per game did his normal work, scoring 24 points despite being the focus of a box-and-one defense employed by the Pirates in the first half. Hautamaki, who averaged just 7.6 points coming in, led Bruce with a season-high 25 points, hitting two 3-pointers but doing most of his damage inside as the Red Raiders controlled most of the action in the paint with a 39-30 rebounding advantage and good interior passing. Bruce scored 36 of its points in the paint and converted 25 Gilman turnovers into 28 points.

Bruce (7-9) was in control from start to finish. The Red Raiders scored the game’s first nine points. Gilman finally got on the board when Ustianowski got a layup to cap a successful press break. The Pirates got within eight twice, once on a Marion basket that made it 17-9 and again on the second of Wisocky’s first-half hoops, which made it 19-11. It was 24-15 when Bruce separated for good, finishing the first half on a 13-4 run that included three scores from Hautamaki, a bankedin 3 from Popowich and the final score by Rylan Dostal off a tipped around rebound.

Gilman only got as close as 15 in the second half, following four straight points from Winger. That made it 41-26 with 14 minutes to go. But a Red Raider run of 10-0 put it out of reach with 11:30 left.

Marion led Gilman with 10 points, including a nice three-point play in the second half that started with a Tony Syryczuk steal and ended on a nice pass from Wisocky. Tony Syryczuk scored eight points, including a late 3. Ustianowski hit his first 3-point basket of the season while scoring six points. Halida added six as well. Wisocky and Winger chipped in with four points each, Pockat sank a long second-half 3 and Joey Syryczuk got a bucket while chasing down his own miss.

Halida led Gilman with four rebounds. Wisocky and Pockat had three assists each and Tony Syryczuk had five steals.

Popowich and Hautamaki had eight rebounds apiece for Bruce, while Brady Trott had nine. Trott had six of Bruce’s 15 steals.

They weren’t quite as deadly from 3-point range at the outset as they were on Dec. 12, but the Colby Hornets were still more than good enough Thursday in a 6831 drubbing of the Pirates.

Gilman made one little run early, turning a 6-0 deficit into a 7-6 lead on two jumpers from Halida and a Joey Syryczuk 3-pointer. But Colby sank seven first-half 3-pointers and was able to break down the Gilman defense to get some good inside looks too while building an insurmountable 45-16 halftime lead.

Colby led by as many as 48 in the second half before the Pirates ended the game on an 11-0 run, during the nine minutes of running clock.

Something about Gilman brought out the best in Colby’s offense this year. In the first meeting, the Hornets hit 10 3-point shots in the first 10 minutes to build a quick 40-point lead.

This time, Colby used a 16-3 spurt after Gilman’s seven-point run to take the lead for good. The run ended with an Adrian Lopez 3. Pockat drained a 3-ball for Gilman, but then Colby scored the next six points and pulled away from there.

Olynick ran into some first-half foul trouble, but otherwise had a solid game inside for Gilman, leading the team with seven points. Halida finished with six and Pockat added five. Ustianowski and Wisocky scored four points apiece, Joey Syryczuk finished with three and Adam Draeger added a hoop.

It was a tough night from a shooting perspective for Gilman, who made just 11 of 55 shots from the field (20%). Colby, meanwhile, shot 46.4% (26 of 56), including 10 of 27 from long range.

Joey Syryczuk was Gilman’s rebounding leader with six. Olynick, Halida, Marion and Tony Syryczuk had four apiece. Winger and Tony Syryczuk had two assists apiece. The Pirates were outrebounded 44-31.

Joseph Streveler and Lopez scored 21 points apiece for the Hornets, who improved to 6-3 in the Eastern Cloverbelt and 7-8 overall at the time.

Gilman’s Logan Halida pulls a defensive rebound away from Greenwood’s Anton Livingston during the first half of the Pirates’ 43-30 win Tuesday. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS