Pirates struggle with two of East Lakeland’s best
GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL
The Gilman Pirates got off to a competitive start Monday in their second consecutive game against a defending top-two finisher from last year in the East Lakeland Conference, but the Flambeau Falcons held the Pirates scoreless for a six-minute span late in the first half, scored 13 straight points to break it open and rolled to a 52-31 win.
The Falcons improved to 1-1 behind balanced scoring led by 10 points from Dominic Kopacz, who hit two 3-point shots. Giles Groothousen added nine points, Kevin Ross had eight and Isaac Kopacz chipped in with seven for the Falcons, who are coming off a 24-2 season in 2021-22 that included a 15-1 mark in the East Lakeland.
Gilman got early baskets from Sam Syryczuk and Dalton Wisocky to lead 2-0 and 4-3, but a 7-0 spurt gave Flambeau the lead for good. Gilman fought back with a free throw from Caleb Marion and a score from Branden Ustianowski. Marion hit a mid-range jumper to make it 15-9 just past the midway point of the first half, but that’s when the Falcons made their move, getting a couple of hoops from Isaac Kopacz and five points from Ross, including a triple to open up a 28-9 lead before Gilman’s Brayden Olynick finally ended the run by scoring on an inbound play.
Flambeau led 32-11 at halftime and scored the first five points of the second half before Gilman made a mini run behind two scores from Marion, five points from Olynick, including a 3-pointer and a jumper from Wisocky to get within 39-23. But the offense went cold again after that and Flambeau got a 3-pointer from Dominic Kopacz and a bucket off a baseline inbound from Eli Hruby to regain control.
Olynick led Gilman with 12 points, which is his varsity high. Marion added nine points and Wisocky and Ustianowski scored four points each. Sam Syryczuk had two points with his early bucket.
Gilman’s early-season struggles at the free throw line continued. The Pirates (03) made just three of 17, obviously hampering their efforts to stay in the game.
The Pirates get one more East Lakeland non-conference tune-up before entering Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play next week. The Winter Warriors visit Gilman today, Thursday, for a 6:30 p.m. tip time. The Pirates then travel to Owen-Withee Tuesday to open league play and they’ll host Colby on Dec. 16. Both games tip at 7:15 p.m.
Bruce 84, Gilman 28
In their season opener Friday, the Bruce Red Raiders got a huge 25-point first half from Ryan Popowich and cruised to an 84-28 win over the Pirates.
Bruce also got 17 points from Jake Thome, all in the first half as they tore out to a 52-14 halftime lead. The Red Raiders were 14-2 in the East Lakeland last year and are coming off a 19-7 season.
Popowich sank three 3-pointers as part of his big first half, while Thome added two. Popowich added 11 secondhalf points to finish with 36, but the half belonged to Red Raider Ryan Popowich, who scored 18 of his 24 points in the final 18 minutes.
For Gilman, who played without Olynick, sophomore Joey Syryczuk knocked down a couple of 3s and finished with eight points. Sam Syryczuk hit a triple and scored seven. Marion added five points, Wisocky scored in each half to finish with four and Ustianowski also scored four points in the loss.
