02/07/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
BLUFORD - Going into Wednesday night's contest at home versus Cisne, Webber Township head coach Jaxon Helm knew how dangerous a team the Lions could be.

In the previous meeting between the two teams in the title game of the Wayne City Holiday Tournament, the Trojans won the championship with a 56-45 victory.

Although the Lions had struggled during the 2023-24 campaign, they were very capable of giving the Trojans a good game.

As things turned out Coach Helm was correct.

Webber Township jumped out to an early advantage and then survived a Cisne late rally to pick up a 73-64 victory on Senior Night in Bluford.

With the triumph, the Trojans are now 25-3 on the season, 5-1 in the MTC.

Coach Kevin Bowen's Lions fell to 11-17, 4-3 in the league standings.

Six-two sophomore Nathaniel Marlow continues to impress as he paced the Trojans with 30-points, including four 3-pointers in the contest.

“He (Marlow) is a really dynamic scorer and a really tough player to guard,” said Coach Helm. “It's a credit to how hard he works everyday.”

Senior Nikkos Ulm muscled his way in for 23-points for Webber and senior teammate Damian Fleener added eight.

“Nikkos (Ulm) provides problems not just by his size but by his speed and strength,” said Coach Helm. “He does an incredible job of just hunting down the basketball. He gets what I call 'grown man' rebounds. We're undersized but we have guys that swarm to the basketball.”

Coach Helm also got six-points each from sophomore Carter Bain and senior Dylan French in the contest.

Cisne was paced by the brothers Kade and Anden Atwood.

Anden, a 6-1 senior, scored 22-points while sophomore Kade added 21.

Cooper Bowen, a junior guard, added 11-points for the Lions.

There was one telling statistic that favored the hosts early and eventually allowed the Trojans to get an early lead.

Webber finished with seven offensive rebounds in the game with four of them coming in the first quarter.

Of the four, three of the rebounds turned into immediate points for Webber as they took an early lead.

Ulm, Marlow and Bain each picked up rebound baskets, which helped offset Kade Atwood's six-points in the opening minutes.

Atwood scored three times on drives to the basket and junior Kaden Dagg scored his only two-points in the game as Cisne tied the game 8-8 with 1:51 left in the opening stanza.

That was the final tie, the fourth even score of the quarter, as Webber finished with a 7-2 run.

Marlow scored for the second time in the quarter and Bain put back his rebound score.

A 3-pointer by Fleener closed the quarter at 15-10 Webber.

The Trojans got separation in the second quarter.

Marlow scored 10 of his points during a stretch in which Webber outscored the Lions 19-9 to take a 15-point halftime advantage.

Anden Atwood tried to keep Cisne close, scoring a pair of baskets in the second and his bucket from the right wing closed the gap to 25-19 at the 2:29 mark.

But the Trojans responded with a 9-0 closing spurt to take a 34-19 intermission lead.

Ulm scored on consecutive transition opportunities off of Cisne turnovers before Marlow closed the half with a pair of free throws and then a 3-pointer from the right corner.

“Marlow hit some tough shots on us but he also got some easy looks out of our zone because we didn't communicate,” said Coach Bowen. “We didn't rebound (well enough) and it opened things up for them.”

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The Lions connected on just 3-of-13 field goal attempts in the quarter as they fell behind by double-digits.

Anden Atwood picked up his fourth personal foul with 3:21 left in the quarter and went to the bench.

While he was on the bench, thanks to six-points each from Marlow and Ulm, Webber pushed its lead to its pinnacle a few minutes later.

Ulm hit four-consecutive free throws in the frame and a fast break score on an assist from French following a steal by Bain made it 48-31 with 2:01 left in the third.

“He (French) is like the energizer bunny, he gets wound up and he doesn't stop,” said Coach Helm. “It's 100 percent effort from him. I can live with his aggressive mistakes but he does a lot of things right for us.”

Perhaps other teams playing on the road during a struggling type season might have gotten their heads down.

But Cisne responded in the final moments of the third frame and it carried into the fourth quarter, which made things interesting in the final minutes.

Kade Atwood hit a pair of free throws and then followed up his own missed shot for a score to get the run started.

Consecutive baskets by Bowen in the final minute pulled the Lions to within 50-39 heading to the fourth.

Thanks to some timely stops by Cisne and missed free throws by Webber, the lead for the Trojans diminished.

Trailing 65-51 with 3:18 left, the Lions went on a 13-4 run.

Both Atwood's hit shots in the run as did Bowen.

Fleener and French combined to go 0-of-4 from the foul line and Bowen scored twice sandwiched around another Kade Atwood drive.

A drive to the basket and a 3-pointer from the left wing by Bowen cut the lead to 69-64 with just 1:02 left.

That, however, was the end of the run.

Bain scored on an assist from French on a fast break while breaking the Lions' press and Marlow ended the drama with two more free throws while junior guard Gavyn Harrell and Atwood missed consecutive 3-point shots.

The Trojans enjoyed a Senior Night win and added to the league total.

Webber ended up 28-of-48 from the floor, 6-of-17 from the arc and held a 26-24 rebounding edge.

Cisne closed the game with 24-of-59, 5-of-17 to go with 10-turnovers.

Webber committed five of its 11-turnovers in the final eight minutes that allowed the Lions to rally.

“They (Cisne) were tough to put away. They continued to pressure us and hit some tough shots down the stretch,” said Coach Helm. “We didn't do a great job taking care of it (the ball) and knocking down free throws towards the end but to come up with the win we're extremely happy.”

Cisne has away games coming up at Edwards County and Waltonville to end its regular season while the Trojans will also get on the bus for their final two contests at Grayville and Patoka/Odin.

“Unfortunately a lot of our energy seems to go off of whether or not we make shots and that can't happen,” said Coach Bowen. “We've played enough basketball now that we ought to come out defensively ready to do the things we need to do. We have a size disadvantage against every team we play. So we need to shoot the ball well and we haven't done that.”

Cisne (64) – K. Atwood 6 1 6-7 21, Harrell 0 0 0-0 0, Baker 3 0 0-0 6, A. Atwood 4 3 5-6 22, Bowen 4 1 0-0 11, Dagg 2 0 0-0 4. 2FG-19/3FG-5/FT-11-13/PF-16.
Webber Township (73) – French 3 0 0-2 6, Ulm 8 1 4-4 23, Fleener 2 1 1-5 8, Marlow 6 4 6-6 30, Bain 3 0 0-0 6. 2FG-22/3FG-6/FT-11-17/PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.