Pirates pile up points Tuesday in lopsided win over Granton

GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL

The Gilman Pirates buried a seasonhigh 14 3-point shots and, at times, scored at will Tuesday in a 96-62 win over the Granton Bulldogs.

The Pirates scored inside and outside against the winless Bulldogs while racing out to a 49-28 halftime lead. The offensive explosion continued into the second half with 47 more points.

The win improved Gilman’s Eastern Cloverbelt Conference record to 3-10. The Pirates are 4-14 overall. Granton fell to 0-12, 0-16.

All five of the Pirates’ starters set prep career highs in scoring in the win. Andrew Hecker led the way, equally splitting his 30 points between each half. Senior Blake Wisocky shattered his previous best of 11, set last year in a game against Spencer, by pouring in 24 points, including six 3-pointers. He hit four of those 3s and had 14 points in the first half.

Senior Ethan Grunseth scored an even 20 points for his highest scoring game at the varsity level. He hit two 3s and scored 14 of his points in the second half. Junior Isaac Wininger hit double digits for the first time, scoring 12 points, including two 3s. He had nine points in the first half. Sophomore Grant McFadden got his first start and hit a pair of 3s while finishing with a varsity high of eight points in the win. Zack Marion added a second-half hoop.

Gilman jumped out of the gates quickly, taking an 18-3 lead just 3:04 into the game. The lead hit 20 at 41-20 with 4:43 left in the first half.

Granton made a run at the Pirates when they went cold to start the second half. The Bulldogs pulled within 49-37, forcing a Gilman timeout with 14:48 left. The Pirates didn’t let them get any closer, pulling away from a 54-41 lead by outscoring Granton 35-17 over the next 10 minutes.

Granton got 28 points from Noah Mc- Conkey and 23 points from Brandon Jakobi but little else from the rest of the team offensively.

Gilman hosts Columbus Catholic tonight, Thursday, and then heads to Owen- Withee Tuesday for two more Eastern Cloverbelt contests. Game times are 7:15 p.m.

Spencer 73, Gilman 41

The Spencer Rockets continued their quest to stay in the Eastern Cloverbelt’s title chase Friday when they shut down Gilman early and rolled to a 73-41 win on their home floor.

Paced by 15 first-half points from senior Eric Ehlert, the Rockets built a 29-14 halftime lead. Brett Kasch caught fire in the second half, hitting nine shots from the field, including an early 3-pointer, to score 19 of his 21 points and help Spencer put this one away.

Austin Bacon scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half for Spencer and made eight of 10 free throws. Ehlert finished with 17 points. The Pirates got 25 points from Hecker, with 19 of those coming in the second half. He made eight shots from the field in the half. The rest of the Pirates combined only had two as they were unable to keep up with the Rockets, who now sit at 11-1 in conference play, one game behind 12-0 Neillsville. Neillsville is at Spencer Tuesday night.

Jordan Goebel hit a 3-pointer in each half to score six points for the Pirates. Wininger’s five points included a firsthalf 3-pointer. McFadden and Grunseth scored two points each and Marion added a second-half free throw.

Spencer made 16 of 31 free throws compared to seven of 16 for Gilman. The Pirates made one more 3-pointer than the Rockets, four to three, but Spencer outscored Gilman 48-22 on two-point scores.