Pirates pushing through difficult stretch in their schedule

GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL

For years, Columbus Catholic’s success has been driven by strong play on the perimeter and that was again the case on Tuesday when the Dons drilled eight 3-point shots in the first half and 12 overall in a 68-26 win over the host Gilman Pirates.

Using quick, but accurate ball movement and a lot of patience, the Dons gave themselves plenty of open looks against Gilman’s 3-2 zone and built a 41-11 halftime lead. With the win, Columbus Catholic stayed on the heels of the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference leaders, improving to 4-1 in league play and 9-5 overall.

The Dons are tied for second place with Colby. Both teams trail 6-0 Owen-Withee, who Columbus Catholic visits on Saturday. The Blackhawks got a big conference win Tuesday, taking down Colby 72-48 to stay unbeaten in league play.

Owen-Withee is scheduled to play in Gilman tonight, Thursday, at 5:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Gilman fell to 0-7 in the conference and 0-13 overall but did some good things. The main positive was the way Gilman handled the Dons’ full-court zone pressure. The Pirates rarely turned the ball over in the backcourt or give up transition points off ball-handling miscues.

The Pirates did have trouble, getting open looks or much of anything going against the Dons’ halfcourt zone. The Pirates were held to 20 points until reserves Dawson Grunseth and Cooper Krug hit 3-point shots in the last minute with Krug’s shot coming from halfcourt at the buzzer.

Alex Edwards led a balanced attack by the Dons with 13 points, including three 3s. Cy Becker added 12 points, Cal Birkhauser added 10, including a trio of 3s and Emmitt Konieczny had a quiet eight points, including a couple of 3-balls.

The Dons’ starters did not play in the second half after building their big halftime lead.

Gilman had eight players hit the scoring column. Sawyer Winger, Sam Syryczuk, Dalton Wisocky and Anthony Syryczuk joined Krug and Grunseth in scoring three points apiece. Caleb Marion led Gilman with six points and Brayden Olynick added two first-half free throws.

Gilman, who continues to play without injured starters Branden Ustianowski and Joey Syryczuk, heads to Phillips Monday for a non-conference game with the Loggers and then has another tough ECC matchup on Jan. 26 at Colby.

Warriors 77, Pirates 27

Gilman made one nice run in the first half Monday, but the offense fizzled after that and host Neillsville ran away with a 77-27 win.

Four players hit double figures to lead a balanced Neillsville attack that blitzed Gilman 39-12 in the second half and held the Pirates to just 13 points after Gilman had cut an early 18-point deficit to nine.

That early lead by Neillsville was 213, but then the Warriors got sloppy and the Pirates took advantage. Olynick made one free throw and missed the second with 7:56 left in the half, but Marion grabbed the rebound and turned it into a three-point play. That was the Pirates’ first field since Anthony Syryczuk’s 3-pointer on their first possession of the game gave them a 3-0 lead.

Wisocky scored and Marion added another bucket off a Sam Syryczuk assist. Olynick’s free throws following a technical foul cut Neillsville’s lead to 23-13 with 5:27 left in the half. Sam Syryczuk added a free throw six seconds later, but then the offense went cold and Neillsville eventually found its groove in the second half.

The Warriors went on a 15-1 run to end the half with a 38-15 lead. Wisocky hit an early 3 for Gilman in the second half and hit another short shot. But by the time Marion scored twice inside, the lead had ballooned to 56-24 with 12 minutes to go.

Marion led Gilman with nine points. Anthony and Sam Syryczuk and Wisocky scored four points apiece. Olynick finished with three points.

Andrew Brown led Neillsville with 14 points, Braylon Boyer had 13, Bryce Erickson scored 11 and Ashten Schultz added 10.

Spencer 66, Gilman 45

On Thursday, the Pirates gave host Spencer a run for its money into the second half but the Rockets eventually pulled away and earned a 66-45 win in the teams’ first Eastern Cloverbelt meeting of the season.

Marion had a big night inside, scoring 19 points for his second-highest total of the season. Anthony Syryczuk, a freshman, added a season-high 12 points for the Pirates.

That, however, wasn’t quite enough to offset three Rockets in double figures, led by Degan Kind’s 14 points and 10 apiece from Jonathan Jonas and Connor Bacon.

Used to being pressured by teams, the Pirates had some success turning those tables on the Rockets at times. Several of Syryczuk’s points came off Spencer turnovers and Marion got a good chunk of his points at the end of successful press breaks by the Pirates. The Rockets did, however, generate a fair amount of their own offense by creating turnovers and transition opportunities.

Marion scored the first four points of the game, but a 10-0 run gave Spencer the lead for good. Baskets by Wisocky and Anthony Syryczuk on an offensive rebound pulled the Pirates within 10-8. Marion pounded the offensive glass, Anthony Syryczuk scored off a backcourt steal and Sam Syryczuk scored off an offensive rebound to pull Gilman within 15-14 and Olynick’s long pass got Max Ustianowski a bucket to make it 17-16. The Pirates got behind by six, but pulled within 24-22 on two Anthony Syryczuk baskets off turnovers. Spencer went on a little run to make it 29-22 at the half.

The Rockets kept that run going by scoring the first six points of the second half to open up a 13-point lead and the lead stayed in double digits the rest of the way. Marion scored seven straight points to cut an 18-point lead to 11 at 44-33 with 10:10 to go, but a little 10-4 spurt put the Rockets up 54-37 and put the game out of reach.

Sam Syryczuk finished with six points, while Ustianowski and Wisocky added four apiece for the Pirates.