Webber Township @ Eldorado

Non-Conference

Webber Township

Eldorado

Webber Township (63) - Richardson 1 0 0-0 2, Jones 2 1 0-0 7, J. Dalby 0 0 0-0 0, J. Marlow 2 0 0-0 4, Fairchild 0 1 0-0 3, B. Dalby 3 1 0-0 9, Bigham 0 0 0-0 0, Moser 0 2 0-0 6, N. Marlow 9 1 11-13 32.
2FG-17/3FG-6/FT-11-13/PF-12.

Eldorado (44) - Phelps 3 2 5-6 17, Grathler 0 2 0-0 6, Stafford 1 0 1-2 3, Rash 1 0 0-0 2, Jones 3 2 0-2 12, Boulds 0 1 0-0 3, Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Slomka 0 0 0-0 0, Cox 0 0 0-0 0, Oglesby 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-8/3FG-7/FT-7-12/PF-12.

Fouled Out – Rash - Eldorado.
Technical Fouls – None.

Webber wins road battle
Trojans' defense shines, 63-44; Marlow nets 32 in victory

12/06/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO - After giving up 81-points in a first round loss at the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament to open the 2024-25 season, head coach Jaxon Helm at Webber Township knew that his team needed to get better defensively.

The last four games have shown a noticeable difference.

The Trojans have given up just 46.5 points per game since.

In Friday night's 63-44 road win at Eldorado, Coach Helm saw his defense force 17-turnovers, with six of them coming during a third quarter stretch where Webber Township took control to improve to 4-1 overall.

“Tonight was our best performance on the defensive end of the floor this year,” said Coach Helm. “We have worked on defensive drills a lot and tonight we showed that we took what we've been working on all week and applied it tonight.”

The Trojans' Nathaniel Marlow, the 2023-24 1A ABV “Player of the Year”, put together another big game offensively.

The 6-2 junior netted 32-points in the victory, which boasted his points per game average to 34.0.

Freshman Bryden Dalby added nine-points for Webber as they outscored the host Eagles 32-15 in the middle two quarters, 21-9 in the third to pull away from the hosts.

“He (Marlow) is a competitor. If you played him in checkers he would want to beat you,” said Coach Helm. “It's great to see him not just score but he played good, hard defense tonight and we capitalized off of the defensive.”

Coach Wes McCoy's club fell to 1-4 on the season despite getting 17-points from senior guard Jake Phelps and 12 from junior Jordan Jones.

While the Eagles were turning the ball over, Webber Township cared for the basketball with just seven total turnovers, three of which came from reserves in the final two minutes after the outcome had been decided.

“That's about the third game in a row our third quarter have got us. We struggled and we couldn't run the offense,” said Coach McCoy. “We couldn't buy a basket and we had some turnovers.”

The Trojans won the glass battle, 32-25 and shot the ball better at 23-of-51 overall, 6-of-19 from the arc.

After a hot start Eldorado cooled down, especially from the 3-point line.

The Eagles ended up just 15-of-45 overall and 7-of-20 from long range.

“You can't live and die by three's,” said Coach McCoy. “We shot too many of them tonight. We need to get the ball inside more.”

(CONTINUED)

The first quarter saw the hosts nail down a trio of shots from the arc as they led 11-8 midway through the opening frame.

Phelps, who is playing with a knee injury, hit one of the bombs and finished with seven-points in the stanza.

But Marlow didn't take long to warm up, hitting a 3-pointer early and scored on a conventional three-point play.

Not only did the Trojans play well defensively, they hit the boards early, grabbing six of their nine offensive rebound as they led 16-15 at the first horn.

Marlow put together another strong quarter in the second, adding seven more points including a steal and fast break lay in for a 24-18 advantage at the 3:36 mark.

He added another drive to the basket late in the quarter for a 27-21 halftime advantage.

Eldorado hit just 2-of-11 field goal attempts and after a hot beginning from outside, the Eagles were just 1-of-6 from the arc as they trailed at the break.

The Trojans pulled away in the third quarter with three different players connecting from the 3-point line.

Junior Waylon Jones, who ended up with seven-points, hit from outside, as did classmate Kylan Moser and Dalby.

Jones' trey with under a minute left in the third pushed the lead to 48-30 heading to the final quarter.

Marlow took care of the rest in the fourth quarter, hitting 8-of-8 from the free throw line and adding another score on a shot from the right wing that made it 52-34 with 6:32 remaining.

The lead ballooned as much as 25 before the teams went to the reserves late.

“We talk about being a star in the role that you have,” said Coach Helm when talking about his team. “Whether you're a guy who plays hard defense or you're a secondary scorer for us or you're a guy on the end of the bench who provides energy for the team. We have a lot of guys who step into their roles.”

Eldorado saw its mark slip to 1-4 on the season for Coach McCoy who is trying to change the atmosphere around a program that had a tough 2023-24.

“We knew coming in that he (Marlow) was a really good ballplayer. We thought we could contain him and shut the other ones down,” said Coach McCoy.