Two area basketball teams that have suffered through losing seasons this year went at each other Saturday night in Red Bud, with the Red Bud round-ballers (2-16) triumphing over their Valmeyer counterparts (1-13), 72-57.

Valmeyer took an early lead, 6-0.  But Red Bud mounted a furious response, pouring in 16 unanswered points to post a 16-6 lead before Valmeyer was able to notch a free throw for a single point. Red Bud failed to score again in the first quarter, but took a 16-12 lead out of the first eight minutes of play.

The Musketeers pulled away a little in the second quarter, taking a 38-27 lead into the locker room at half time.

The third quarter went heavily in favor of the Red Bud team, which ended the period up 60-44.

The Musketeers had several 20 point leads in the 4^th quarter before they started substituting heavily. The contest ended with Red Bud on the winning end of a 72-57 final score.

Red Bud’s Greg Godier and Caleb Grohmann were the two high scorers on the night with 22 points a piece. While Valmeyer’s Zach Williams scored 21 of the Pirates’ points and Eric Smith had 15 points.

In other Saturday boys basketball action, Gibault (15-3) suffered its third loss of the season to Althoff (9-5), 62-57. Columbia opened play in the Litchfield Invite defeating Metro E. Lutheran, 69-46. To view the Litchfield Tournament schedule or the Nashville and Sparta Tournament schedules that begin Tuesday, click here.