Pirates hang with Hornets; win gets away at Greenwood

GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL

A night after a potential win slipped away in the final seconds, the Gilman Pirates were back at it Tuesday, hanging with visiting Alma Center Lincoln most of the way before the Hornets pulled away for a 62-42 non-conference win.

Caleb Marion and Brayden Olynick both hit double figures with 11 points and freshman Anthony Syryczuk continued his steady improvement with nine points for the Pirates.

But that wasn’t quite enough to offset the 18-point night put up by Lincoln’s top athlete, Jace Paul, who also had nine rebounds and seven steals while his team improved to 6-5 on the year.

Paul had eight points in the first half and Benjamin Ross had eight as well for the Hornets, who started the game on a 14-point run, but Gilman (0-10) hung around. Syryczuk hit a 3-point shot and scored seven points in the half, Olynick added a 3 and Marion scored four points to help the Pirates pull within 23-17 by the 3:43 mark. Alma Center Lincoln led 31-21 at the half.

Gilman closed within 35-29 early in the second half, but the Hornets were able to pull away behind five field goals from Paul and three from Luke Fischer, who scored all six of his points in the second half.

Olynick sank two 3s for Gilman in the half and Marion put in seven for the Pirates. He finished with a team-high 14 rebounds, while Olynick had seven. Anthony and Sam Syryczuk both had five steals.

Max Ustianowski scored a season-high five points for Gilman, Dalton Wisocky scored four and Sam Syryczuk had a first-half bucket. The Pirates missed out of some key points at the free throw line, making four of 13. The Hornets weren’t much better at five for 11.

The Pirates’ search for that elusive first win takes them to Spencer tonight, Thursday, for an Eastern Cloverbelt Conference matchup with the Rockets. The Pirates will be busy next week against three of the conference’s best squads. They’ll go to Neillsville Monday to make up a Jan. 3 postponement and then host Columbus Catholic on Tuesday to wrap up the first round of league play. Gilman’s home game with Owen-Withee has now been moved a day and will be played Jan. 19 at 5:30 p.m. ahead of the girls’ home game with Neillsville.

Indians 50, Pirates 49

Someone was going to get win number one for the season on Monday and that team was Greenwood, who got a 12-foot jumper from Ryver Glynn with four seconds left to give the host Indians their only lead of the game and a thrilling 5049 win.

Glynn scored 22 points in the second half and finished with 26 points. He also nailed a 3-point shot with 1:08 left to make it a one-score game at 48-45 and banked in a 3 with 27 seconds to go to make it a one-point game at 49-48.

The Pirates missed two free throws –– a theme in the loss of what was a 10-point lead with 7:25 to go –– but got the offensive rebound with 19 seconds to go. But, after a timeout, the Pirates turned the ball over on the inbound pass, setting up Glynn’s game-winner where he stepped through a potential trap and got his floater to go from just inside the free throw line.

Until that last minute, it appeared Gilman was destined to break a 43-game, two-year losing streak that started on Jan. 15, 2021 with a loss to Greenwood.

The Pirates moved the ball well offensively and, for the most part, limited their turnovers in the first half and took a big early lead. Olynick knocked down two early 3s and Sam Syryczuk scored off a rebound for an 8-1 start. Wisocky’s 3-pointer put Gilman up 15-7 and an 8-0 run that included an inside score from Marion, a Marion free throw, a nice bank shot from Olynick and a 3-point bomb from Wisocky gave the Pirates their biggest lead at 23-9 with four minutes left in the half.

The Indians ended the half with an 11-2 surge to cut Gilman’s lead to 25-20.

Olynick started the second half with back-to-back 3s to push Gilman’s lead back into double digits at 31-20. Wisocky banked in a jumper for a 34-24 lead and, after Greenwood had sliced the lead to five at 34-29, Marion scored and then scored again off an Anthony Syryczuk steal and Sam Syryczuk went glass on a 3-point shot that made it 41-31 at the 7:25 mark.

Glynn, however, answered with a 3, which was the first sign that Greenwood wasn’t ready to go away. A three-point play on an offensive rebound by James Durrstein cut the lead to 41-37 with 5:13 left. Olynick countered with another 3-pointer with 4:30 left for a 44-37 lead.

A Wisocky hoop gave Gilman a 46-39 lead and, after Glynn sank a 3, Olynick blocked a Glynn shot, Sam Syryczuk picked up the loose ball and raced to the other end for a score that put Gilman up 48-42 with 2:35 left. The Pirates got a stop and were able to run some clock, but some forced 3s didn’t fall. The Pirates got another defensive stop but in the last 1:17 they went one for six from the free throw line and Glynn made Gilman pay with his eight points in the last 68 seconds. The Pirates were two for 10 from the line in the second half and just seven for 22 overall.

Olynick scored 18 points to lead Gilman, including five 3s. Wisocky added 11 points, Marion had nine and Sam Syryczuk scored seven. Anthony Syryczuk chipped in four. Rogan Travis hit double figures with 11 for Greenwood, who won its first game of the season after 10 losses.

Loyal 53, Gilman 20

On Friday, the Pirates struggled to get open space and open shots against Loyal’s full-court man-to-man pressure and didn’t get much of anything going in a 5320 loss to the visiting Greyhounds.

Loyal jumped out to a 21-2 lead in the game’s first 11 minutes and that was never threatened as the Greyhounds improved to 2-1 in conference play and 5-4 overall at the time.

Drew Stieglitz led Loyal with 14 points, Bryce Deegan hit a couple of 3s and finished with 11 points, while Isaac Jakobi added 10, eight of which were scored in the first half.

Loyal led 28-8 at halftime. Olynick scored the first bucket of the second half for Gilman, but Loyal went on a 16-2 surge to expand its lead to 44-12. Connor Genteman and Deegan hit 3s in that run.

Sam Syryczuk used his quickness to get to the rim a handful of times and led the Pirates with seven points. Marion scored four first-half points and finished with six. Olynick, Anthony Syryczuk and Ustianowski scored one basket apiece, while Sawyer Winger added a late free throw for the team’s final point.