Pirates again get so close, but year’s first win is not to be

GILMAN BOYS BASKETBALL

For the second time in three weeks, the Gilman Pirates were in good position late in the game Tuesday to knock off the Greenwood Indians, but for the second time that opportunity slipped away.

The Pirates took a 39-38 lead with 3:42 left on a perfect pass through traffic from Brayden Olynick to Trevor Vick, who scored from the left block, but the visiting Indians shut out the Pirates the rest of the way and got out of town with a 4539 win for their second victory of the season –– both against Gilman.

The Pirates, while taking a game to the final minutes for the fifth time this season, remained without a win in 17 outings this season.

“We just haven’t been able to finish,” Gilman head coach Bobbi Marion said.

Senior guard Ryver Glynn, who hit the game-winning shot that beat Gilman 5049 on Jan. 9, hit the go-ahead shot in this one as well, breaking a 39-39 tie with a 13foot jumper with 1:50 to play. The Pirates didn’t convert a bonus free throw chance eight seconds later then, after Glynn hit one of two free throws with 54.3 seconds to go, the Pirates got two good looks, but Sam Syryczuk’s 3-point try bounced off the glass and rim and Caleb Marion’s shot in the lane, coming after Anthony Syryczuk’s offensive rebound, rolled off the left side of the rim.

Christian Thomas grabbed the rebound for Greenwood, made one of two free throws with 24.6 seconds and the Pirates turned the ball over on the following possession, ending their hopes of finally putting a notch in the win column.

A scoring drought that spanned the end of the first half and start of the second played a big role in Gilman’s undoing. For an 11-minute stretch, Gilman hit just two shots from the field, allowing Greenwood to turn a 15-11 deficit into a 28-19 halftime lead that carried nearly three and a half minutes into the second half.

While it hurt, the drought could have been worse, and, after Dalton Wisocky finally ended it by knocking down a 3-point shot, the Pirates quickly drew even by getting a Brayden Olynick bucket and a right-side 3-pointer from freshman Sawyer Winger, who had just entered the game. After Thomas scored on a putback, Anthony Syryczuk walked a tightrope along the baseline to stay inbounds, then gathered and fired from the right corner, swishing a 3-ball that tied the game at 3030 with 10:25 left.

Sam Syryczuk tied it again at 33-33 with a 3-pointer at the 7:30 mark, Vick answered a Glynn hoop by nailing a 15foot jumper with 5:30 to go. Anthony Syryczuk’s free throws put Gilman ahead 37-36 with 4:57 left, but Glynn scored to put the Indians back on top 50 seconds later.

The Pirates got a 3-pointer from Wisocky right off the bat and then did the majority of their first-half scoring through offensive rebounding. Marion scored all eight of his points in the half and three of those four buckets came on rebounds. The second of those made it 13-11 and Max Ustianowski followed with his only score of the game to give Gilman its four-point lead, which vanished when Greenwood scored the next 13 points.

Wisocky had 10 points to lead the Pirates. Anthony Syryczuk scored five, Olynick and Vick scored four apiece and Winger and Sam Syryczuk had three each.

Travis led Greenwood with 17 points, Thomas had 13 and Glynn added nine.

The standout statistic was free throw shooting. Greenwood shot 29 free throws and made 16. The Pirates only got five attempts and made two.

Gilman hosts a strong Neillsville squad Friday and then hits the road Monday for a non-conference game at Rib Lake. Both contests tip at 7:15 p.m.

Gilman spotted Colby a 24-0 lead, but made some things happen periodically the rest of the way Thursday in an 85-51 loss to one of the Eastern Cloverbelt’s title contenders.

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Marion battled for nine tough first-half points in the post and finished with 12 points, while Vick, a sophomore, found the varsity scoring column for the first time this year in a big way, sinking a trio of 3-pointers in the second half and finishing with 11 points.

Anthony Syryczuk hit a first-half 3 and scored eight points for Gilman, while Olynick scored six of his eight in the second half.

The Hornets wasted no time in the putting this one away, scoring seven points in the first 63 seconds. Mateo Lopez sank a right-corner 3 and Kaden Wiese went on a personal 10-point run that included a pair of 3s. Caden Healy’s slam dunk made it 24-0 before Marion finally scored to get Gilman on the board more than six minutes in. The lead got to 31-2 before the Pirates finally found some traction on both ends of the floor and cut into the deficit a bit at 36-12. Syryczuk’s 3 off an inbound play, followed by a Wisocky free throw with 1:48 left and a Ustianowski putback on the miss made it 44-22. Colby’s Braxton Smith scored the last four points of the half to give the Hornets a 48-22 lead.

Vick’s first two threes, both from the right corner, sandwiched a Marion bucket for an 8-0 Pirate run that made it 6133 six minutes into the second half. Just when Colby was a point away from starting the running clock at 77-38, the Pirates got two bonus free throws from Vick, a Sam Syryczuk rebound bucket off an Anthony Syryczuk steal, another hoop by Anthony Syryczuk and Vick’s left-side triple to cut the lead to 77-47.

Sam Syryczuk and Wisocky finished with four points each, while Ustianowski and Winger both added a bucket.

Wiese led a long list of 12 Hornets that got into the scoring column with 17 points, 15 of which came in the first half. Joseph Streveler added 13.

Gilman’s Anthony Syryczuk tries to get a shot by Greenwood’s Ryver Glynn (2) and Christian Thomas during Tuesday’s first half.