01/25/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
BLUFORD – Heading into the Midland Trail Conference Tournament championship game against Webber Township, undefeated Waltonville knew that the Trojans' outstanding scorer Nathaniel Marlow was going to get his points.

However Spartans head coach Anthony Lowery knew that if they were able to contain the rest of the Webber club that his unbeaten team had a real shot at coming away with the title of the 94th annual event.

Marlow scored 33-points but his teammates managed just 18 total with none of them individually reaching double-digits.

In the meantime Waltonville took care of its own business, getting 23-points from eventual tournament Most Valuable Player Kyle Cooper and 15 from Gage Peterson as the Spartans improved to 17-0 with a 62-51 victory Saturday afternoon.

Not only did the win keep the Spartans' win streak alive but it avenged a MTC title game loss to Webber Township from a year ago.

“We had been able to avenge a couple of other losses from last year by beating Meridian and Goreville and we were hoping that this would be the matchup and this (win) is huge for us,” said Coach Lowery. “We were able to avenge last year's loss on their home floor.”

Waltonville also received 12-points from sophomore forward Jagger Mayville.

But, perhaps more importantly, a defensive effort in a box-and-one defense for Waltonville was just as important.

Mayville shadowed Marlow for most of the first half.

Marlow got his points but he earned them all as the Spartans collectively made him work for the scores.

There were two other keys to the game, each helped Waltonville get the championship.

One was the Spartans ability to take care of the basketball.

Coach Lowery's bunch committed just four turnovers, one in each quarter.

The second was an end of the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter time period where they held Marlow without a field goal.

It helped turn a 36-35 lead with 2:26 left in the third into a 56-40 spread with 1:53 remaining in the game.

The 20-5 run doomed the Trojans' chances and made champions of the Spartans.

This marks the first ever MTC tournament title for Waltonville and it was accomplished on the defensive end of the floor.

Waltonville held Webber to 18-of-41 from the field and just 6-of-17 from the 3-point line.

They also forced eight turnovers and held a 31-19 rebounding edge.

Waltonville allowed only two offensive rebounds, both coming in the final quarter after the outcome was in the bag.

The Spartans were 22-of-45 overall, 3-of-6 from the arc and they forced eight important Webber turnovers.

Coming out in the gimmick defense, Waltonville took an early lead before Marlow started to cook.

The 6-2 junior and 2023-24 ABV 1A “Player of the Year” finally worked his way into an offensive flow.

A drive in the lane and a 3-pointer from the right wing gave the Trojans a 5-4 lead.

The largest lead for Webber came off of a score by freshman Jacob Marlow on a fast break and a score in the paint from junior Kylan Moser which made it 11-6 with just under a minute left in the first quarter.

A Cooper score on a rebound of his own missed shot closed the scoring at 11-8 Webber heading to the second quarter.

(CONTINUED)

Waltonville took back the lead and held it throughout the second quarter thanks to hitting their first five shots from the floor and connecting on 8-of-9 for the period.

Peterson scored eight of his points in the frame while senior Isaiah Lamke hit his only shot of the contest, a 3-pointer from the left wing, to open the scoring run.

A fast break by sophomore Witten Devor and Peterson's first basket of the frame forced Webber Township head coach Jaxon Helm to burn a timeout trailing 15-11 with 6:15 left before halftime.

Marlow kept the Trojans close with another 3-pointer and a pair of free throws before intermission.

He was also fouled right before the halftime buzzer by Cooper while attempting a long 3-point shot.

With :00.4 on the clock, Marlow nailed all three foul shots as the Trojans trailed 27-25 at the break.

A 7-2 beginning of the third quarter by the Trojans gave them a final advantage.

Marlow was also part of this run, hitting another long range shot to go with a mid-range field goal to make it 32-29 Webber at the 5:30 mark.

Cooper scored on a conventional three-point play and added two more charities sandwiched around two freebies from Mayville for a 7-0 run to make it 36-32 Spartans.

After a Marlow trey, Mayville added another score late inside as the Spartans went to the fourth quarter up 40-37.

Following a basket by Jacob Marlow to begin the fourth quarter, Waltonville showed Webber the tail lights.

A 14-1 scoring march made champions of Coach Lowery's squad.

Cooper scored seven of the points and he and Peterson both canned 3-point shots.

A drive by Cooper for points, two free throws from the MVP and another inside basket by Peterson ballooned the advantage to 56-40 with just 5:40 remaining.

Webber got the disadvantage down to single digits once after Marlow finally got back on track with a pair of 3-point shots.

That, however, was the end of the potential comeback.

Mayville scored on an inbound play and 4-of-4 free throws by Devor closed the championship book.

“We talked about the third and fourth quarter that toughness was going to win this game,” said Coach Lowery. “This was a good gut check for us and pleased to come out on top. We did a lot better job of executing our stuff (offense) in the second half. Kyle (Cooper) kind of took over.”

Webber saw its mark slip to 16-3 on the season.

The two teams will face each other again on February 5th at Webber during conference play.

“Everyone knows that Nathaniel (Marlow) is a nightmare (to defend) but I thought Jagger (Mayville) did a great job of challenging him,” said Coach Lowery. “I give him (Marlow) all the credit and I'm positive he is in the gym all the time working. I'm super impressed with him. We threw a lot of different bodies at him but he never takes a play off.”

WOODLAWN 66, GRAYVILLE 56
Behind a career-best and game-high 34-points from 6-3 sophomore Luke McKay the Cardinals took home the third place honor with a victory over the Bison.

McKay, the younger brother of former Cardinals' standout and ABV 1A 2019-20 “Player of the Year” Blake McKay, scorched Grayville with a dominant performance in the victory.

Coach Luke Cooper and his Woodlawn squad improved to 14-7 with the triumph over the 11-11 Bison.

The Cardinals forced 16-turnovers, 10 in the first half, as they put together enough stops to complete a 2-1 week at the MTC.

Two other Woodlawn players; junior Logan Heater and freshman Ian Bennett, added 12 and 10 point totals in the victory.

“He (McKay) does a nice job for us. He's a little different than Blake. He's more of an “around the rim” kind of guy. He carried the load for us today,” said Coach Cooper. “We really tightened up our defense today and we got on a nice scoring run (fourth quarter). We did a good job at the end.”

Grayville head coach Travis Thompson got a quality game from 6-foot senior guard Zach Leavens.

Six-one sophomore Ian Kleinschmidt added 12.

No other Bison player hit double-digits as all-tournament selection 6-5 junior Jake Hosman was held to seven-points by the Cardinals' defense.

Grayville appeared to have the game in hand in the fourth quarter, breaking a 46-46 tied with six-consecutive points for a 52-46 with 4:13 left.

But Woodlawn took over with a game-changing 18-0 run, outscoring the Bison 20-2 in the final 3:55.

McKay scored 10 of the points, including a conventional three-point play on a drive in the lane.

Also in the initial run the Cardinals got a 3-pointer from Bennett and a steal and fast break lay in by Heater that forced a Grayville timeout at 56-52 Woodlawn.

McKay added a transition bucket and a pair of Heater free throws gave Woodlawn a 62-52 lead with :49.2 left.

The Cardinals nailed down 23-of-49 overall from the field, 4-of-12 from downtown.

Woodlawn held a 30-26 rebounding edge and survived some late mistakes (five fourth quarter turnovers) to pick up the win.

Grayville was just 23-of-56 overall, 5-of-16 from 3-point line.

The two teams will play at Grayville Tuesday night in MTC play.

RED HILL 69, WAYNE CITY 63
In a close contest for the consolation championship of the MTC tournament, the Salukis overcame their own mistakes better than the Indians did in picking up the hardware.

Coach Bryan Havill and his Red Hill club evened their overall mark to 11-11 on the season.

Wayne City sits at 7-11 after the loss for Coach Jake Talbert.

Three Salukis hit double-figures in scoring in the consolation title game.

Junior guard Ozzy Ash hit for 17-points, junior Abram Clark added 16-points and junior Avery Arbuckle tossed in 14.

Two other players for Red Hill (junior Elijah Stitt and freshman Baron Young) added eight and seven to the point total.

Wayne City was topped by 29-points from junior James Walker but no one else managed more than eight-points in the loss.

Junior Javen Loker (eight), sophomore Landis Musgrave (seven) and junior Jax Scarbrough (seven) were contributors for the Indians offensively.

Red Hill made 25-of-52 shots, 8-of-18 from beyond the 3-point line while WC was 26-of-57, 5-of-15.

Free throw shooting ended up costing the Tribe as they hit just 6-of-15 compared to 11-of-12 from the Salukis.

Arbuckle nailed down 5-of-6 from the stripe in the final :53.1 and Stitt nailed a pair of back-breaking 3-pointers as Red Hill finished off the game with an 11-1 scoring run for the win.

Wayne City went without a made field goal in the final 3:18 of the game.

The Indians will host Webber Township on Tuesday night while Red Hill travels to Vincennes (IN.) Rivet on Friday.