Musketeers battle, defeat Warriors
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Red Bud pulled away in the last 3 minutes of the game to defeat the Steeleville Warriors 78-64 on January 13. Red Bud took the lead 3 minutes into the game and led throughout, but the Warriors kept it close. The Warriors could never get the big play to tie or take the lead in the game. The game started well for the Warriors as Jason Becker hit a three-pointer from the right wing for a 3-0 lead 25 seconds into the first quarter. Calen Lalis scored inside on a pass from Colin Smith for a 5-2 lead, but Red Bud's Kory Liefer and Tim Conway hit back to back threes allowing the Musketeers to take an 8-5 advantage. The teams traded points the rest of the first quarter as Red Bud held a 19-15 lead after one quarter.
The Musketeers had a 19-point first quarter. They pulled ahead of the Warriors by 4 points, with a score of 19-15 on the board. Tim Conway, 23, led the team off the bench, scoring 10 points in two field goals and two long range shots. Stefan Gregson, 3, hit a field goal and two successful free throws. Kory Leifer, 11, drilled a field goal from downtown early in the quarter. Adam Kunkel, 1, contributed with a field goal of his own. "We knew they were going to be excited about playing for this crowd," said Musketeers Head Coach Dave Gillingham. "When you got the home crowd behind you, you get a little bit of adrenaline flow. They had that sixth man in the crowd."
Stefan Gregson scored Red Bud's first 7 points of the second quarter while the Warriors could only get a Smith free throw and Red Bud's lead grew to 26-16. The Warriors fought back on a drive from Peter Zobel and 5 points from Becker to trail only 26-23. After Conway hit one free throw Becker hit two for Steeleville cutting the lead to 27-25. Red Bud pushed the lead back to six. Zobel hit two free throws with 28 seconds left to trim the lead to 33-29. Red Bud came down, and with under 10 seconds to go missed a shot. Red Bud came up with the ball after a scramble for the rebound and found Jake Hoffman in the corner where he nailed a three-pointer. The shot gave Red Bud a 36-29 lead at half.
In the second, the Musketeers pulled ahead by 7 more points to end the first half. Gregson led the team in the quarter, taking seven points in two field goals and one from high above the arc. Conway drilled a field goal and hit one of four attempts at the charity line. Jake Hoffman, 5, drilled a long range field goal and Dan Shrader, 4, brought home one from inside.
In the third quarter the Warriors got within three points on three occasions. Becker scored inside and was fouled. He hit the free throw and the Warriors trailed 39-36. After a Red Bud basket, Becker grabbed a rebound and scored and again the Warriors trailed by three. Halfway through the third quarter the Warriors trailed by 5, but Zobel knocked down a 10 footer pulling the Warriors within 45-42. Red Bud then scored 6 straight points with baskets by three different players for a nine point advantage. The Warriors trailed by 11 with time running out, but Josh Diercks hit a three-pointer at the buzzer cutting the lead to 56-48.
The third quarter was a battle, with the Warriors attacking relentlessly but the Musketeers managed to maintain at least a 3 point lead. "We had a couple of good runs there, [getting] up by 10 points on about three different occasions, but they came right back at us. The battle was good," said Gillingham. Leading the team in the third was Leifer, with two 3-point aces and one field goal from inside. Chance Albertson, 32, hit two field goals, bringing in his first points of the game. Conway also drilled two shots from the inner arc. Shrader contributed a field goal and Kunkel drilled a free throw.
Jason Becker led the Warriors with 23 points and he pulled down 6 boards. Peter Zobel added 18 points and 10 rebounds. Colin Smith had 9 points and 4 rebounds, Josh Diercks scored 8 and handed out 3 assists, Andrew Pokrzywinski scored 4, had 5 assists, and 3 steals, while Calen Lalis scored 2. Red Bud was led in scoring by Tim Conway with 19 and Kory Liefer added 18.
Red Bud started the fourth quarter by building an 11 point lead at 63-52. The Warriors then scored 8 straight points to pull within 63-60. Zobel hit one of two free throws and Diercks scored on a fast break. Becker knocked down both ends of a one-and-one and Diercks again hit a lay-up and was fouled. His free throw completed the 8-0 run. Red Bud responded as Liefer scored 7 points in a 9-0 run as the Musketeers built a 72-60 lead with 1:04 to play. Red Bud then held on for the win.
The Musketeers had their highest point scoring quarter of the game, in the fourth, taking 22-points. 13 of these were from the foul line. Kunkel led the team, taking four successful free shots and two field goals, for 8-points. Leifer had 7-points in four free throws and one shot from deep outside. Conway contributed one field goal while Gregson contributed one shot from the foul line. Shrader and Hoffman both hit two successful shots from the line. The final score was 78-64. "I am always preaching to the kids to get the big stops," said Gillingham, "I'm from the old school where I think close games are made by defense."