Defenses wear down Gilman boys in season’s first two outings
GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL
The Gilman Pirates showed some fight early in both of their first two games of the season, but eventually defensive pressure wore them down in road losses at Columbus Catholic and Loyal.
At Loyal Monday, Gilman’s solid work in a 1-3-1 zone kept the Pirates in the game early, but a late first-half surge by the Greyhounds led to a 33-9 halftime lead and an eventual 63-21 win.
The Greyhounds, already playing their seventh game of the season, improved to 2-3 in Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play and 3-4 overall.
Loyal jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead behind 3-pointers from Kaiden Hagen and Kaden Olson and a bucket from Daymian Baird. But over the next 10-plus minutes, the young Pirates hung around.
Isaac Wininger hit a short shot and Andrew Hecker knocked down a 3 to pull the Pirates within 10-5. Hecker assisted on a backdoor bucket from Wininger to make it 14-7 at about the 10-minute mark.
Gilman’s offense went on a dry spell after getting only one more Hecker hoop for the rest of the half. As the Pirates struggled to get much going against Loyal’s sticky man-to-man defense, the Greyhounds eventually found some cracks in Gilman’s defense and gradually pulled away. Baird did most of the damage, scoring all of his 18 points in the first half, mainly on rebounds or short-range shots.
Hecker opened the second half with free throws to make it 33-11, then Loyal put the game away with a 17-0 run, highlighted by two 3-pointers apiece from Hagen and Olson. That run made it 50-11. Gilman got triples from Hecker and Gabe Brunner down the stretch.
Hecker led the Pirates with 13 points. Wininger finished with four, Brunner had three and Zack Marion added a late free throw.
Baird was the only Greyhound in double figures, but Olson and Hagen scored nine apiece. Both hit three 3-pointers. Drew Stieglitz and Deagen Sandelier added seven apiece.
The 0-2 Pirates will play a rescheduled game at winless Spencer on Tuesday, Dec. 29 at 4:30 p.m. A Jan. 4 nonconference game at Rib Lake is back on the schedule with a start time of 7:15 p.m.
Columbus 86, Gilman 30
Gilman got some early offense in Friday’s delayed season opener under new head coach Bobbi Marion at Columbus Catholic, but the Pirates weren’t able to solve the Dons’ zone traps and the home team used a late first-half run to spark its 86-30 win.
The Pirates hung around through 13 minutes, trailing 28-21, when the Dons went on a 22-2 blitz to end the half and take a commanding 50-23 lead into the locker room. The run continued into the second half. The Dons scored the first 12 points after halftime to stretch the lead to 62-23 as they maintained their lead in the Eastern Cloverbelt by improving to 4-0 in league play. They fell to 5-1 overall the next day with a non-conference loss to Athens.
Eden Jacobson did most of his damage inside, while leading Columbus with 19 points. Jadon Nienast added 13. Gage Stratman and Grant Olson chipped in with nine points apiece.
Hecker got his season off to a solid start with 21 points to lead all scorers. He started the game with a pair of 3s to give Gilman a quick 6-0 lead. His third field goal made it 8-3 before the Dons took the lead for good with a 12-0 run. The Pirates later trailed 26-12 before going on a 9-2 surge that started with a Hecker hoop. Hecker assisted on a bucket by Abram Wininger. Hecker grabbed a long defensive rebound and outran the Dons to the other end to score. He then hit a 3-ball to cut the lead to seven before Columbus went on its game-clinching run, sparked by several Gilman turnovers.
Isaac Wininger scored seven points for the Pirates and Abram Wininger finished with two.
