Redmen start fast, cruise to victory over the Pirates

RIB LAKE 65, GILMAN 22

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Filled with youth and inexperience, the Gilman and Rib Lake boys basketball teams both came into this season knowing it may take some time to find their way.

Judging by Monday’s result, Rib Lake is getting there quicker, granted the Redmen had a bit of a head start.

Defensively, the Redmen put the clamps on Gilman’s leading scorer Andrew Hecker and they pieced together enough offensive runs to lead comfortably from start to finish in a 65-22 nonconference home win over the Pirates. The win was Rib Lake’s second in a row after six losses to start the season.

Gilman, which didn’t play its first game until Dec. 18 under new head coach Bobbi Marion, fell to 0-4 as the Pirates have struggled in the early going to find consistent ball handling and shooting on the offensive end.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Rib Lake head coach Carrie Ewan said. “They played a 1-3-1 most of the game, which we do struggle against, but I thought our guys did a little better with it tonight feeding the inside and getting the inside looks. We just have to be able to finish. We missed a lot of shots underneath again I thought, which is frustrating.”

Hecker, who came in averaging just under 18 points per game, nearly hit that average by scoring 16 of Gilman’s points, but the Redmen certainly made the All-Eastern Cloverbelt performer work for those points before he fouled out with 2:26 remaining.

“He’s a nice ball player,” Ewan said. “We tried to key in on him pretty much most of the night. We told the guys you pretty much have to know where he is all the time on that court whatever we’re playing whether it’s man or it’s zone. He made some shots that there was just no way we were going to stop. He’s a good ball player.”

With the help of 46 total rebounds and only 12 turnovers, Rib Lake was able to get 71 shots off, making 27 (38%). Logan Blomberg and Hecker traded game-open- ing 3-pointers. A Brock Thiede 3-pointer put Rib Lake up 6-3 and started a 17-0 run that put the hosts in command.

Three of the baskets in that run came directly off steals. Ryan Patrick’s blocked shot on the defensive end led to a Blomberg hoop on the offensive end and Blomberg assisted Patrick on a score that made it 20-3 before Gilman’s Gabe Brunner ended the run with a 3-pointer. Hecker drove and scored and Branden Ustianowski, making his season debut for the Pirates, made one of two free throws to close the gap to 22-9 with 6:04 left in the first half.

But Rib Lake closed the half on an 11-2 run to take a 33-11 lead into the locker room.

After playing man-to-man defense through the first half, Rib Lake tried to zone things up to start the second half. Hecker beat it with an early 3-pointer from the left corner, but after that the Pirates’ scoring struggles continued and Rib Lake steadily widened the gap from there.

Andrew Wudi scored in transition, Blomberg sank a 3-pointer and Michael Borchardt attacked the rim to make it 42-14 with 11:52 to go. Hecker scored off a steal by teammate Dalton Wisocky and he later swished a triple to make it 46-20.

But from there, the Redmen closed the game out with a 19-2 surge that started with a 3-pointer from Ryan Buehler. After a Hecker hoop, Jordan Yanko got a short shot to fall, Tanner Vlach had a chance at a three-point play but missed the free throw, Wudi scored and later added his second 3-pointer of the night. Borchardt converted a three-point play and added a basket on a hard drive to the rack. Buehler’s last-minute basket closed the scoring.

Rib Lake got strong scoring balance. Blomberg led the way with 13 points, while Wudi added 12 and Vlach scored 10. Borchardt scored nine points, Buehler had a season-high seven and Patrick had five points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Blomberg had nine rebounds. Thiede had three points before leaving with a shoulder injury just before halftime. He drew the assignment of defending Hecker through most of the half. Yanko fin- ished with two points and six rebounds. Wudi had six assists, Borchardt had four and Vlach had three. Patrick had seven steals and two blocked shots. Wudi had six steals.

“These are good games for us to get everybody in,” Ewan said. “I thought Andrew Wudi did a nice job today, attacking a little more. Michael Borchardt does a nice job taking it to the hoop. They’re all starting to attack the rim a little more for sure. We were pretty tentative on that to start the year. But that’s getting better.”

Gilman got three points from Brunner, two from Zack Marion and one from Ustianowski. Hecker and Marion led the team in rebounding.

Rib Lake is back in action Friday when it continues its four-game homestand by facing Wisconsin Rapids Assumption at 7:15 p.m. Abbotsford is in town Jan. 12.

Gilman has been hit with some bad luck as Eastern Cloverbelt rivals Owen-Withee and Loyal have each postponed their next three games, leaving the Pirates without a game until a Jan. 15 home date with Greenwood, unless additions are made.

Gilman’s Branden Ustianowski finds his path blocked by Rib Lake’s Tanner Vlach during the opening moments of Monday’s non-conference game.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS