Despite missing 16 shots, Benet transfer Gabriel Sularski still gets going in big debut for Lemont. ‘It’s all good.’

In his debut for Lemont, heralded junior guard Gabriel Sularski missed his share of 3-pointers and layups, plus missed on a dunk and also picked up a bloody nose.

Despite all of that, the Benet transfer — who has offers from various Division I programs, including Illinois, Michigan State, Missouri, Purdue, Wisconsin and Indiana — said he enjoyed himself.

“I’ll just keep shooting the ball the next game and shots will fall the next game,” Sularski said. “It just math, you know? The next game I hit those shots. It’s all good.

“All that matters is that we won. When I was at Benet, there was a culture there, but now coming back home with these guys, I love playing with them. They play fast, and we all trust each other.”

That trust showed Monday night as Sularski, one of the most talked about transfers in the area, missed 16 shots but he still produced 16 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals in host Lemont’s 65-50 victory over Providence in a WJOL Thanksgiving Classic first-round game.

Senior guard Matas Gaidukevicius led Lemont (1-0) with 26 points, including 18 in the first half. Alanas Castillo added 10 points and seven rebounds, while Simas Dyglys had five steals.

Seth Cheney scored 26 points for Providence (0-1), including five 3-pointers. Ryan Lipke added 10 points, featuring three dunks.

Sularski and Gaidukevicius, meanwhile, provided quite the nice tag team during the fourth quarter after a 20-point lead was rapidly shaved to nine thanks to the hot shooting of Cheney.

Sularski assisted on Gaidukevicius’ 3-pointer and Gaidukevicius had a steal that Sularski converted into a basket on back-to-back plays to give Lemont some breathing room.

“He gives us size,” Gaidukevicius said of the 6-foot-6 Sularski. “He gives us a different look. It’s so easy to get him the ball, and he can score or kick it out to the shooters.”

Sularski is already having fun teaming with Gaidukevicius.

“He had a huge game,” Sularski said of his senior teammate. “This is what he does. He is a huge part of this team. I love his intensity and how he shot the ball. Amazing, amazing.

“We trusted him and he made some huge shots for us.”

Sularski said he wasn’t nervous in his debut, but someone important thought otherwise.

“His shots were a little bit short, which leads me to believe he was a little bit nervous,” Lemont coach Rick Runaas said of Sularski. “It’s like, ‘I don’t want to miss. I don’t want to look bad.’

“But we like the way he got downhill and to the rim, and we will continue to expect him to do that.”

And he expects good things to continue for Gaidukevicius.

“He had a (38-point) game last year,” Runaas said of a Feb. 14 eruption against Hinsdale South. “So, this game was no surprise. He got us going so it was a great, great night for him.”

Lemont takes on Joliet Central (0-1) at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the second round of the tournament at the Pat Sullivan Center at St. Francis in Joliet.

It’s also nice to be home for Sularski, who is coming off a big summer of playing for Poland’s U-16 national team at the FIBA EuroBasket competition in Greece. He spent a month abroad between July and August.

“We didn’t do the best, but I had a great performance out there in front of a lot of European scouts,” Sularski said. “It was amazing. It was probably one of my best basketball experiences.

“Playing European basketball is different, and I hope I can play for the U-18 team next year.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.