High-scoring Hecker nets an All-ECC first-team spot
ALL-EASTERN CLOVERBELT BOYS BASKETBALL
For the second straight season, the Gilman Pirates have put a player on the 2019-20 All-Eastern Cloverbelt Conference boys basketball team.
Last year, it was Aaron Nagel. This year it’s junior Andrew Hecker, who joined the program this season and made an immediate impact for the Pirates, who went 5-11 in the conference this winter and 6-17 overall under second-year head coach Wade Hendricks.
Hecker was the conference’s top scorer as he finished the year with an overall scoring average of 24.4 points per game. He led the Pirates in scoring in every game but one and became a doubledouble machine in the second half of the year. He wound up averaging about 11 rebounds per game as well.
This year’s first team includes two repeat first-team selections in senior Alex King and junior Braden Trunkel from conference champion Neillsville. Along with Hecker, Loyal’s Kole Bogdonovich and seniors Brett Kasch and Austin Bacon of Spencer fill out the squad as firsttime members of the first team.
King and Bogdonovich were named Co-Players of the Year. King also won the award last year.
Hecker hit the 39-point mark twice this season. The first came in one of Gilman’s biggest wins of the year, a 68-64 decision over Columbus Catholic on Feb. 13. He finished with a 39-point outing in the team’s 97-66 WIAA Division 5 regional loss at Turtle Lake.
He scored 25 points or more in 10 of Gilman’s last 11 games and with four of those being 30-point games or better.
His rebounding totals also climbed in the second half of the season. He hit 17 rebounds in back-to-back wins against Granton and Columbus Catholic Feb. 11 and 13 and had 15 rebounds, along with 33 points in another of the team’s key wins, a 58-49 victory over Greenwood on Feb. 24.
Neillsville and Spencer tied for this year’s Eastern Cloverbelt Conference championship with 15-1 league marks. Neillsville won the tiebreaker and earned the right to play in the Cloverbelt Conference championship game, which it won 85-80 over Western Cloverbelt champion Altoona. Neillsville went 20-4 and lasted the longest of any Eastern Cloverbelt team in the WIAA tournament. The Warriors were eliminated by undefeated Stratford 71-36 in a WIAA Division 4 regional final.
The Pirates graduate guards Ethan Grunseth, Blake Wisocky and Jordan Goebel, but hope to keep building behind Hecker and several more underclassmen who got tastes of varsity experience this past season.
