Chester @ Red Bud - Cahokia Conference Illinois Division

Musketeers' defense shuts down Chester late
Red Bud stays tied for division lead after win over Yellow Jackets

02/03/2023
BY JACK BULLOCK
RED BUD - To get a key home conference win on Friday night, head coach Dane Walter needed his Red Bud Musketeers to 'step up' defensively in the fourth quarter.

The squad proceeded to hold the Chester Yellow Jackets scoreless in a stretch of just over five minutes of playing time.

That gave the hosts enough time to put together a rally for a 47-40 come-from-behind win in a key Cahokia Conference Illinois Division game between two long-time Randolph County rivals.

Six-two junior guard Owen Liefer sparked the Musketeers early, scoring seven of his 14 points in the first quarter and teammate, 6-3 senior power forward Devin Hall added 10, all of which were scored in the first half.

Five-nine senior brothers Noah (eight) and Nick Gantner (five) added second half points for Red Bud.

Noah canned a pair of important 3-pointers, the second of which gave Red Bud a fourth quarter lead it didn't give up.

The Musketeers improved to 19-8 overall and 6-2 in the division as they remain tied with Wesclin for the top spot in the league race.

Wesclin beat Carlyle, 63-41 on Friday night to keep pace.

Red Bud has four consecutive victories and are a win away from its first 20-win season since 2008-09.

“He (Liefer) really helped us out tonight, especially defensively. He is difficult to guard because he can change speed and directions,” said Coach Walter. “Any time we get together it is a Randolph County rivalry. It was a good environment for a high school basketball game.”

Coach Walter got scoring (five points apiece) from sophomore Trent Sternberg and senior Drew Grohmann in the win.

Chester and head coach Chris Toledo saw their overall mark slip to 11-16 and 4-4 in the Illinois Division.

The Yellow Jackets were led in scoring by 14 points each from 5-7 senior Gavin Schroeder and 6-1 senior Chance Mott.

Schroeder nailed four 3-pointers, three of which came in a second quarter run that gave Chester a halftime advantage.

“He (Schroeder) is a streaky shooter and tonight he shot the ball well,” said Coach Toledo. “He really carried us there in the first half.”

Six-foot sophomore Kolton Jany added eight points for the Yellow Jackets.

Red Bud led early on the strength of an 11-0 run to close out the first quarter.

After trailing early, 6-4, the Musketeers got an unconventional five-point trip to take the lead.

Hall scored on the inside while being fouled.

Although he missed the free throw, Liefer squeezed inside and got the rebound for a tip-in while also being fouled.

His made free throw with 2:10 left gave Red Bud a 9-6 lead.

Consecutive 3-pointers from Grohman and Liefer finished of the run and the frame at 15-6 Musketeers.

The second quarter began with three straight scores from Schroeder.

The senior lefty stroked home a pair of long range shots from the left wing and his driving bank shot followed by a bucket from Mott gave Chester back the lead at 16-15 with that 10-0 scoring spree.

Although Hall came up with a couple of scores in the lane before halftime, Chester countered with a driving lay in by Jany and the trifecta of the 3-pointers from Schroeder closed the second quarter at 21-19 Yellow Jackets.

“He (Schroeder) can shoot it and we were getting beat on drives and they were kicking it out to him in the first half,” said Coach Walter. “He hit his shots but we made some adjustments at halftime so we weren't having to help as much and we made them take some tough shots in the second half.”

There were two ties and four lead changes in the third quarter.

After a Liefer score to begin the second half, Jany and Schroeder delivered baskets.

Schroeder's fourth 3-pointer followed another inside basket from Jany for a 26-21 Chester lead, its largest of the contest.

Both Grohmann brothers hit 3-pointers while Mott added a three-point play after being fouled by Hall in the quarter.

Mott closed the stanza with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the right wing for a 32-31 Yellow Jackets' advantage heading to the fourth quarter.

Coach Toledo's club managed one final lead on score by 6-3 sophomore Devante Palacio.

His bucket inside the lane made it 34-32.

After a pair of baskets by Liefer and Noah Gantner followed by a Jany inside score, which evened things at 36-all, Red Bud held Chester without points for the next 5:17 of play.

A dagger of a 3-point bomb Gantner combined with 8-of-11 free throws by Grohman, Hall, Liefer and Sternberg closed out the win.

“That has been a problem for us this year. We will hit a span where we go four or five minutes and we can't score. It caught up with us tonight. It is to the point of the season where we can't win games going five minutes without scoring,” said Coach Toledo.

Statistically the foul line gave the hosts the win as Red Bud outscored Chester from the stripe (12-of-21 to 1-of-5).

Red Bud was a bit better from the floor as they connected on 15-of-32 overall, 5-of-11 from the 3-point arc.

Chester ended up 17-of-40 and 5-of-14 from long range.

The Musketeers edged the visitors on the glass 21-20 and both teams played a pretty clean game offensively with just eight turnovers for each club.

“We wanted to keep them (Red Bud) off of the foul line because they are a good free throw shooting team. But once they got into the bonus in the second half we knew that they would make them,” said Coach Toledo. “These games are fun to play. They beat us last year here in the first round of the regional and the atmosphere like tonight was awesome. There is a chance we could play them in the regional again.”

The Yellow Jackets get right back on the floor on Saturday with a home game against DuQuoin while Red Bud will travel to Marissa/Coulterville on Tuesday.

“I like that we're taking care of our own business conference-wise so we have a shot at the end,” said Coach Walter, as Red Bud and Wesclin split their two regular season contests. “We mixed some things up defensively in the second half we put some guys into some different situations and I thought that was really the difference,” said Coach Walter. “We were getting beat on dribble drives too much and we needed to keep them out of the lane.”

Cahokia Conference - Illinois Division	1	2	3	4	-	F
Chester	06	15	11	08	-	40
Red Bud	15	04	12	16	-	47

Chester (40) – Jany 4 0 0-3 8, Schroeder 1 4 0-0 14, Mott 5 1 1-2 15, Palacio 2 0 0-0 4, Handel 0 0 0-0 0, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0, Fricke 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-12, 3FG-5, FT-1-5, PF-18.
Red Bud (47) – Hall 4 0 2-5 10, Liefer 4 1 3-6 14, Grohmann 0 1 2-2 5, Nick Gantner 0 1 2-4 5, Noah Gantner 1 2 0-0 8, Dressel 0 0 0-0 0, Sternberg 1 0 3-4 5. 2FG-10, 3FG-5, FT-12-21, PF-10.
Fouled Out – Palacio - Chester.
Technical Fouls – None.