Pirates make a late run at Holcombe, fall twice in ECC play

GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL

The Owen-Withee Blackhawks were tough for Gilman to score on in the teams’ first meeting on Jan. 4 and nothing changed Tuesday in the home squad’s 83-11 victory over the visiting Pirates.

Owen-Withee’s length gave Gilman fits, getting into passing lanes, blocking shots and dominating the offensive glass. The Blackhawks led 43-4 at halftime, ending the half with a 26-0 run after Dalton Wisocky hit a mid-range jumper for the Pirates.

Branden Ustianowski got a steal and score for Gilman to start the second half, but Owen-Withee scored the next 30 points to really put it out of reach at 73-6 before Grady Kroeplin scored on a quick drive to the basket.

Brayden Olynick hit a late 3-pointer and Zack Marion scored Gilman’s first basket of the game in the paint, making it 3-2 in the opening moments.

The Blackhawks, who beat Gilman 68-10 in that first meeting and improved to 6-6 in Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play and 9-12 overall, got 16 points from Carter Klabon, 15 points from Logan Amacher and 12 points from Tyler Weaver in the win.

Gilman, now 0-13 in league play and 0-19 overall, gets another difficult test when it visits 21-1 Flambeau, who is fighting for the top spot in this weekend’s WIAA Division 5 sectional tournament seeding. It’s possible Gilman and Flambeau could meet again in the opening round of tournament play on March 1. Teams statewide will see their tournament pairings for the first time on Sunday.

Gilman wraps up Eastern Cloverbelt play by hosting Greenwood (1-11, 4-15) where the Pirates will try to force a seventh- place tie in the league standings with the Indians, who beat them 54-37 in the teams’ first meeting Jan. 13.

Gilman will host a Cloverbelt Conference crossover to finish the regular season on Jan. 24 against either Thorp or Cadott.

Chieftains 62, Pirates 57

On Monday, Gilman had its best chance to get win number one since a 53-44 loss at Birchwood on Dec. 30. But, host Lake Holcombe used a flurry of points off Gilman turnovers early in the second half to build enough of a cushion to hold off the visiting Pirates 62-57 in non-conference play. The Pirates led for much of the first half and into the opening minutes of the second half, but couldn’t overturn what wound up being a 15-point deficit at one point in the second half.

The 57 points scored by Gilman were, by far, a season high and was accomplished with five players scoring seven points or more. Ustianowski led the way with 19 points, about half of which came following steals at the top of Gilman’s zone defense. Kroeplin knocked down three 3-pointers and scored 13 points, Caleb Marion did inside damage against Lake Holcombe’s 1-2-2 zone early and scored 10, Zack Marion scored eight primarily off offensive rebounds and Olynick gave the Pirates a lift with seven second-half points that helped spark a late run.

But it wasn’t quite enough as Dylan Bowen poured in 26 points for the Chieftains, who improved to 7-14 overall, and Brendan Anders added 19, including five 3-pointers.

Gilman took its largest lead midway through the first half at 17-11, following a mini 6-0 run that included two buckets from Zack Marion and a score from a cutting Ustianowski off a Wisocky assist. Ustianowski later hit a 3-ball that made it 20-16, but Lake Holcombe’s Nathan Jones got a stickback and Anders hit a late 3 to put the home team up 21-20 at halftime.

Kroeplin sank a 3 and Ustianowski scored off a steal to put the Pirates back up 25-21, but the Chieftains started doing damage after that off the offensive glass and with their full-court man-toman to turn the game around. Two 3s from Anders opened up a 36-27 lead. His final triple got the lead to double digits for the first time at 44-32 and it grew to 53-38 before Gilman made its last push. Kroeplin started it with two baskets and his 3-pointer made it 56-49 with 3:02 to go. Zack Marion’s putback got it down to 57-51 with 1:38 left and Kroeplin just missed getting a steal before Bowen sank two free throws with 1:04 left that made it a three-possession game again. Ustianowski ended his big night with two more scores in the last 30 seconds.

The Chieftains outscored Gilman 20-1 from the free throw line as the Pirates were just one of eight. Lake Holcombe was 20 of 27.

Columbus 71, Gilman 31

Eastern Cloverbelt Conference coleader Columbus Catholic kept its title hopes alive Thursday by cruising to a 71-31 win over the Pirates in Gilman.

The Dons outscored Gilman 40-17 in the first half to take control. Emmitt Konieczny led three Columbus Catholic scorers in double figures with 23 points. Blake Jakobi scored 16 and Grant Olson added 10 points.

The Pirates got nine points from Kroeplin, eight from Zack Marion and seven from Caleb Marion in the loss. Wisocky chipped in with four points and Ustianowski contributed three.

The Dons currently sit at 11-1 in conference play with a championship showdown looming at Neillsville on Monday. They are 18-3 overall.