GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL - Big start to second half carries Pirates past Indians for second time

GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL

A week after beating Greenwood for their first conference win of the season, the Gilman Pirates did it again Tuesday, pulling away early in the second half and cruising to a 61-39 win on the Indians’ home floor.

The Pirates started to create separation late in the first half, turning an 11-10 lead into a 27-18 advantage at the half behind 3-pointers from Dawson Grunseth and Logan Halida, a couple of Joey Syryczuk hoops and late scores from Tony Syryczuk off a Joey Syryczuk assist and a Tony Syryczuk steal that gave Halida a score.

As the second half began, Gilman was able to execute its half-court offense, getting the ball inside for some good looks. Plus the Pirates’ defense was able to knock the ball loose a handful of times and turn those Greenwood miscues into transition baskets.

Gilman outscored Greenwood 26-5 to start the half to break the game wide open at 53-23. The Pirates won comfortably despite playing without their senior post Max Ustianowski, who had 11 points and seven rebounds in last week’s win over Greenwood.

“We took care of the ball and had some really good stretches of scoring,” Gilman head coach Tyler Pockat said. “It was nice to see us come out of the half and put up points right away. We have had some trouble coming out of halftime this year and competing in the second half. It was nice to see the boys compete the entire game. We were missing Max, but the boys stepped up and got the job done.”

Joey Syryczuk led Gilman’s charge with 18 points, including six in the big secondhalf run. He added a handful of assists as well. Logan Halida hit a pair of 3s and scored 12 points and Tony Syryczuk had a solid game as well, scoring 11 points, including eight in the second half.

“Joey has been doing a nice job for us in every aspect of the game,” Pockat said. “He is really what keeps us going on both ends.”

Sophomore Connor Nichols scored six straight points for Gilman in the middle of the Pirates’ big run and finished with a season-high eight points. Trevor Vick, Beau Pockat and Dawson Grunseth scored three points apiece as Gilman improved to 2-7 in the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference and 6-10 overall, doubling its win total from a year ago.

Anton Livingston and Keagan Gipe led Greenwood (0-9, 3-13) with 11 points each. The Indians lost their physical senior inside presence James Durrstein midway through the first half to an ankle injury.

Gilman returns to its home court Friday, hosting Neillsville in an Eastern Cloverbelt matchup. The Pirates go to Phillips Monday for a non-conference contest and then return to league play Feb. 13 at Loyal. All tip times are 7:15 p.m.

“We have a tough schedule the rest of the way out, but improvements are good even if they are small,” coach Pockat said. “I will match our guys’ grit on the court with anyone in our conference.”

On Thursday, Gilman found itself down by 16 points halfway through the first half and never got the deficit under double digits after that in a 73-56 loss at Colby.

The Pirates got nothing going early against Colby’s man-to-man defense, other than Ustianowski’s short shot that tied the game at 2-2. The Hornets went on a 16-0 run to lead 18-2 before Ustianowski finally scored again with just 7:33 left in the half.

The Pirates did get some work done on the offensive end after that, but a 10-0 spurt by the Hornets midway through the second half put the game out of reach and sealed their sweep of the season series between the teams in conference play.

Ustianowski certainly was a highlight as he was unstoppable at times when Gilman was able to get him the ball in the paint. He finished with a game-high 25 points. He had 11 points in the first half and Tony Syryczuk swished two 3-point attempts in the half’s later stages to keep the game reasonably in reach at the break at 33-19.

Ustianowski banked in a 3-pointer and Joey Syryczuk scored six straight Pirate points, with two baskets coming on the same baseline inbound play using backscreens from Beau Pockat. Ustianowski scored twice inside to keep Gilman within 46-32. It was 48-35 after a Joey Syryczuk 3-pointer when Colby’s Landon Steinman pulled down an offensive rebound and hit a cutting Braiden Johnson for an easy score. Reed Fleischmann converted a three-point play with 8:45 left, Luke Hannula sank a 3pointer and Fleischmann added a putback to open up a 58-35 lead that basically sealed it.

Joey Syryczuk finished with 11 points for Gilman. Grunseth hit two late 3s to equal Tony Syryczuk with six points each. Halida added five points, Vick had a putback in the final seconds and Nichols made a last-minute free throw.

Ustianowski had nine rebounds and two assists. Tony Syryczuk had six rebounds and five assists. Joey Syryczuk had five rebounds and two assists.

While improving to 4-4 in the conference and 5-7 overall at the time, Colby put four players in double figures. Hannula led the Hornets with 16 points, Fleischmann scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and 6-7 senior Tucker Hayes added 12 points. Johnson scored 11. The Hornets shot 50% from the field (27 of 54) compared to Gilman’s 34.9% (22 of 63) and outrebounded Gilman 44-29.

Tony Syryczuk