RIB LAKE 55, GILMAN 38 - Gilman makes Rib Lake sweat, but Redmen do pull away late

RIB LAKE 55, GILMAN 38

Riding a three-game winning streak against teams from the East Lakeland Conference, the Gilman Pirates knew they were in for a tougher test Friday against the current Marawood North leaders in Rib Lake.

The Pirates gave the Redmen a good push for about 30 minutes before Rib Lake closed the game on a 16-1 scoring run that sealed its 55-38 win in the annual nonconference, cross-country matchup.

Rib Lake continued to dominate the series, winning for the 10th straight time dating back to the 2007-08 season, but this one was certainly much tougher than the previous nine.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Gilman head coach Tyler Pockat said. “I wish the score would’ve reflected more what the game was like. 55-38, it was a little bit better than that. But when they pulled away, they pulled away.”

While Gilman played twice during the holiday week, beating Bruce and Cornell, Rib Lake hadn’t played a game since Dec. 20 and the Redmen felt that had an early effect.

“It did a little bit,” Rib Lake head coach Todd Henderson said. “We had a couple kids that were gone on vacation and a couple kids recovering from being sick. That all factors in. Luckily the guys did not forget how to play defense. They did a good job on the defensive end. I knew Gilman was going to hustle and be a scrappy team. Even last year, that was a game where they outrebounded us. I knew they were going to play hard and they were going to give us their best effort. Sometimes their shots don’t fall, but they have a good group of athletes and they’re definitely improving from year to year.”

“They played better than we thought,” Rib Lake junior guard Seth Borchardt said after leading all scorers with 18 points. “We had a lot of respect for them before. They hit shots and we didn’t. In that first half, they had the 2-3 game plan and we struggled to make shots, struggled to finish. They went to man late looking for steals and that gave us an opportunity to play some more one-on-one basketball.”

Other than three brief one-point Pirate leads, Rib Lake led basically throughout, but Gilman made one last hard push in the second half when two Beau Pockat 3s and a Logan Halida score off a turnover were part of an 8-3 run that forced a Rib Lake timeout with 7:25 left and closed the gap to 39-35.

Out of the timeout, Rib Lake turned the ball over again and Joey Syryczuk stuck with it after getting blocked at point-blank range by Rib Lake’s Jed Henderson as he got the ball back and put it in to make it 39-37 with 7:05 left.

Rib Lake quickly countered, beating Gilman’s press and getting a layup from Henderson. On Rib Lake’s next possession, Borchardt worked around a Lucas Cook screen to get the rim for another layup. As Gilman started to get a bit impatient on its offensive end, Henderson and Borchardt carried Rib Lake down the stretch. Henderson hit two free throws with 5:28 left and then put back his own miss on a baseline inbound play. Borchardt got free and put in a reverse layup on a baseline drive to get the lead to 12 at 49-37 and then he put it away after a Syryczuk free throw, taking the basketball right through the middle of Gilman’s defense for a layup that made it 51-38 with 2:15 left.

“I think in the first half, we played solid man-to-man defense,” Borchardt said. “They hit a couple of 3s. In the second half I was really proud of our guys. We stepped up, started hounding them a little more at half-court. I think that was big just getting them tired.”

“I was proud of our younger guys too, our subs,” Henderson said. “They came in and played really good defense. Lucas Cook, he doesn’t always score the most but he hustles his butt off and gives 110%. Slade (Scheithauer) gave us some good minutes.”

Henderson, as he has consistently this season gave the Redmen solid minutes as well with another double-double. The 6-5 junior scored 17 points, blocked five shots and grabbed 13 rebounds, seven of them on the offensive end with most coming off his own misses. Still, he made six of 15 shots from the field and was a solid five of six from the free throw line while helping Rib Lake improve to 5-2 overall heading into a big Marawood North matchup with Prentice Monday, which it lost 44-41, and a home Marawood crossover with Wisconsin Rapids Assumption this coming Friday.

“It was a good game coming off the break before we play Prentice on Monday,” Henderson said. “First half we were trying to get our legs back under us. A lot of 3-pointers didn’t fall, I really struggled inside. Just stuff like that.”

“Jed’s a beast,” Tyler Pockat said. “He gets to spots you never think anybody could reach but while staying out of foul trouble.”

Rib Lake got out to a 10-4 lead and led 13-8 after a Slade Scheithauer 3-pointer, but Syryczuk’s back-to-back 3-pointers put Gilman ahead for the first time 14-13 with 7:03 left in the first half. Syryczuk scored again after two Borchardt free throws, putting the Pirates ahead 16-15. Borchardt scored twice to help push the Redmen to a 21-17 lead, but Syryczuk sank another triple to cut the lead to one, where was the half ended at 23-22 following two Syryczuk free throws with 1.9 seconds left.

Syryczuk had a big night for Gilman, scoring 16 points, 13 of which came in the first half, and adding 10 rebounds for his own double-double. Max Ustianowski, coming off a career-high 28 points against Cornell, wasn’t afraid to challenge Henderson in the paint, but he only got three of 13 shots from the field to fall in a nine-point, five-rebound outing. One of those makes, a bank shot from the left elbow, started the scoring in the second half and put Gilman on top for the last time at 24-23.

Borchardt got an inside score of a Talon Scheithauer assist, then Ethan Cook’s tip to Blake Henderson off a Borchardt missed 3, led to an easy basket for Jed Henderson. Two Talon Scheithauer 3s made it 34-24 and seemingly put Rib Lake in command but the Redmen went cold keeping the Pirates close before they went on their went to get within 39-37 in the later stages.

“I just really think our upperclassmen did a really good job of just staying under control, staying level-headed,” Todd Henderson said. “When Gilman would make a run they knew when we needed a bucket or needed a stop or a rebound or get a good offensive possession. They did a good job of not taking quick 3s in that second half and mostly just worked the offense and patiently doing what they needed to.”

Talon Scheithauer scored 11 points for Rib Lake, Slade Scheithauer finished with five points, three rebounds and three assists and Ethan Cook and Blake Henderson added a basket apiece with Henderson adding eight rebounds and four assists.

Gilman, who fell to 3-5 at the time after having its win streak snapped, got two assists and six points from Beau Pockat on a pair of 3-pointers, a 3-pointer and five rebounds from Dawson Grunseth and two points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals from Tony Syryczuk. Halida had a basket and two rebounds.

Gilman returned to Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play Tuesday and lost 71-43 at Neillsville. The Pirates host undefeated Loyal on Friday. The Greyhounds beat Columbus Catholic Tuesday 57-39 in a key early-season ECC matchup.

Working between Gilman’s Max Ustianowski (l.) and Dawson Grunseth, Rib Lake’s Blake Henderson passes ahead to a teammate as the Redmen look to push the pace during the second half of their win Friday. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS