The Musketeers opened their season at the Trico Tournament, with a not so familiar face on the sideline. Coach CJ Cruser made his Red Bud coaching debut Monday against the Trico Pioneers. Red Bud is coming off a 9-18 season with a mindset of flipping that record around and trying to put together a winning season. Red Bud opened up the first game of the season with a lot of intensity on the defensive end. Only giving up 15 points in the first half, the Musketeers found ways to help off their man and force the Pioneers into turnovers. Alex Birchler led the offensive charge for the Musketeers, exhibiting his ability to slash to the hoop and finishing near the rim. Red Bud went into halftime with a narrow 20-15 lead. The intensity began to pick up in the second half as the Pioneers attempted to put some pressure on the Musketeers. Fortunately for the Musketeers, they were able to handle most of the pressure that the Pioneers put on them. They were able to successfully break the press on multiple offensive possessions and get easy baskets around the hoop. Griffin Ziebold handled the defensive pressure well and was able to push the ball up the floor. The Musketeers continued to attack the basket and keep a high intensity for the majority of the second half. Red Bud outscored Trico 18-11 in the final quarter, which propelled them to a 34-48 victory over the Pioneers. Birchler led all scorers with 17, followed by Ziebold notching 12 points to his stat sheet.

The Trico Tournament took on a different format this year, combining their tournament with the Murphysboro Tournament. Red Bud’s second game of pool play action took place in Murphysboro against the Harrisburg Bulldogs. The Bulldogs have been a top tier team in the 2A class in recent years. Capturing the IHSA class 2A title in 2013. The Musketeers did not start this game off well on the offensive side of the floor, only scoring two first quarter points. Unfortunately, the offense was not able to get rolling all night. Harrisburg was able to put pressure on the Musketeers, and do so successfully. Red Bud struggled to handle the pressure, and score in the half-court. The Bulldogs’ defensive pressure and hustle offense helped them stomp Red Bud 26-48.

The third game for the Musketeers came against a more familiar Bulldog opponent. Red Bud traveled to Trico to play the Sparta Bulldogs. Sparta’s strength coming into the contest was being quick on offense, and guarding the ball tough. Sparta’s grit and speed showed early in the game, forcing the Musketeers into bad decisions, and forcing them into tough shots offensively. Sparta’s center found ways to score near the hoop, scoring six of Sparta’s 21 first half points. The Bulldogs lead the Musketeers 21-18 at the half. The Musketeer’s continued to fight on the defensive end, being able to force the Bulldog’s to score in the half-court. Down the stretch of the second half offensively, Blake Cowell nailed a corner three, and the team was able to shoot 10-13 from the charity stripe. Red Bud’s relentlessness proved to be a difference as they scrapped out a 44-36 victory over the Bulldogs. Ziebold and Birchler lead the team in scoring with 17 and 15 points a piece.

Red Bud took on the Steeleville Warriors for a chance to play in the third place game against the Chester Jackets. With the Musketeer’s moving to the smaller school conference, the Warriors will be a new rival to look out for this season. Unfortunately, the rivalry did not start out in favor of the Musketeers. The offense was pedestrian all night long, and Red Bud was unable to find any way to score the ball consistently. The first quarter started off roughly, the Warriors shut out the Musketeers, and took a quick 12-0 lead. In the second quarter the Musketeers were able to get on the board, but still faced a 16-7 deficit at the half. Even though the Musketeers only faced a single digit deficit for most of the second half, it had the feeling as if they were getting blown out. The Musketeers were just incapable of making up any kind of substantial ground. In the final quarter, Carter Wiegard was able to knock down a pair of threes to try and cut the lead down. Ziebold led the team in scoring with nine, but it was not enough to stop the Warriors in route to their 32-25 victory over the Musketeers. Luckily for Red Bud, they will get their shot of revenge on Tuesday when they travel to Steeleville to take on the Warriors in the first game of conference play.

With the loss to Steeleville, it created a three way tie of 2-2 teams. Red Bud, Trico, and Steeleville all finished pool play with records of 2-2. The tiebreaking stat was free-throw percentage. The Musketeers did not shoot their best from the line over the course of the week, knocking them to the seventh place game on Saturday against North Tech. The Musketeers got the lid off the rim early in this game. With most credit going to Birchler for contributing seven of the first nine for Red Bud. The Musketeer’s continued to stifle teams on defense only allowing 16 points in the half, and heading into the locker room with a 19-16 lead. The second half was the most thrilling half of basketball played all week by the Musketeers. North Tech began to put pressure on the Musketeers, and Red Bud began to cough the ball up to the opposing team. Red Bud’s lead quickly evaporated, and turned into a 35-29 deficit. Red Bud began to get production from their post players, something they had not seem a whole lot of over the course of the week. Caleb Riechmann scored a season high eight points with six of those coming in the final quarter. North Tech continued to put the heat on and even nailed a few deep threes to keep their slim lead. With under two minutes to go, it looked like all hope was lost for the Musketeers. Facing a seven point deficit, Birchler scored a tough basket inside the paint. Following a missed free throw by North Tech, Jayden Birkner nailed a clutch three point shot to bring the score to 44-42 still in favor of North Tech. After a timeout by the Musketeers, they came out in a deny defense in an effort to steal the ball back into their possession. It worked to perfection, Cory Fithian made an excellent read on the ball and was able to tip the pass into Ziebold’s hands. As Ziebold was corralling the ball, he was hacked on the arm by a North Tech defender, sending him to the free throw line with a chance to tie the game. He nailed both free throws, knotting the game at 44 with only a few ticks left on the clock. North Tech attempted to roll the ball down floor in an attempt to conserve what limited time was on the clock. Cowell dove in, snatched the ball, and threw up a circus shot from his stomach as time expired, sending the game to overtime. The overtime period was a back and forth affair, with both teams not wanting to give the other an edge. Ziebold and Birkner both drained a three point shot in the quarter. As the overtime dwindled down to the final seconds, the Musketeers found themselves again on defense in a 53-53 game. North Tech took the ball up the floor, and was met by a trap by the Musketeers. The guard for North Tech attempted to throw a jump pass across the court that was intercepted by Alex Kueker. Kueker took off down the floor, with the basketball in hand, with a chance to win the ballgame. With the North Tech guards in hot pursuit, Kueker made the high pressure layup to give Red Bud a 55-53 lead with 0.9 seconds remaining. After a desperation air-ball shot by North Tech, the Musketeers sealed the 55-53 victory. Alex Birchler also received all-tournament honors after the conclusion of the contest. Birchler was the offense force that helped the Musketeers succeed throughout the tournament and was well deserving of this award.

Red Bud finished the week at 3-2, and finished in seventh place. The Musketeers were able to scrap out a few victories, and come out of the week above 500. The Musketeer’s defense played extremely stingy all week, being able to guard well and only allowing 40.6 points per game. Offensively, Red Bud struggled, but with it only being the first week of play, there is still a lot of time for improvement. Red Bud begins their conference play Tuesday against the Steeleville Warriors, and also will play a road game on Saturday against the Dupo Tigers.