01/06/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
BLUFORD - It has become increasingly difficult to come up with new words to describe the impact that Webber Township senior standout Nathaniel Marlow has had on not only his team but southern Illinois high school basketball.

He proves night-after-night who the best 1A player in the Deep South is.

Tuesday night, in a key matchup against undefeated Woodlawn, Marlow once again delivered a game-winning performance in front of a packed house at home.

The 6-3 senior guard drilled home 37-points as he led his Trojans to a 62-54 victory, knocking off the Cardinals while staying unbeaten in the Midland Trail Conference.

Webber Township is now 12-1 on the season, 2-0 in the MTC, as the Cardinals fell to 14-1 overall, 3-1 in the league.

Marlow nailed down 9-of-9 free throws, including four important ones in the final two minutes of the contest to help seal the key victory.

Not lost in the story was the play of his teammates, especially on defense.

The Trojans held the Woodlawn offense to just 18-of-47 from the floor and forced 12 turnovers, five in the final eight minutes of the win.

Coach Jaxon Helm's club got key offensive contributions from senior Waylon Jones and sophomore Bryden Dalby.

Jones scored 13 on the night, with a pair of crucial scores in the fourth quarter.

Dalby added nine-points, including two clutch free throws with :40.2 left.

Senior guard Carter Bain only scored three-points on the night, but hit a monumental 3-pointer in the third quarter was a momentum changer as the Trojans were trailing 45-40 with 2:09 left in the frame.

“We talked about these emotional ballgames, there will be waves where you feel like you can't get stops but you have to eventually get down a get one,” said Coach Helm. “We didn't bring anyone in off of the bench tonight. Everyone played 32 minutes. They showed tonight that they can be winners. You have to do what winners do.”

Woodlawn was led by 6-3 junior guard/forward Luke McKay with 24-points.

Included in his production was a fantastic third quarter where McKay connected five times from the 3-point line as Woodlawn held a five-point advantage.

Senior guard Kyle Cooper pitched in 18-points for the Cardinals, hitting all 10 of his free throws during the game.

But he and his teammates came up cold in the final minutes.

Woodlawn was just 2-of-10 from the field in the fourth quarter and committed five of their turnovers late in the game.

Coach Luke Cooper also got eight-points from senior Baylor Rollie and two points each from senior Kylan Moser and junior Tyson Frick.

Woodlawn put together a strong early start and led throughout the opening eight minutes.

Consecutive scores from Moser and Cooper followed by a Rollie baseline drive and two Cooper free throws gave Woodlawn its largest early lead at 8-2.

Webber rallied late in the quarter as Marlow ended up with eight-points in the first and Jones picked Cooper's pocket for a steal and fast break lay in to cut the Woodlawn lead to 14-10 at the first horn.

McKay scored seven of his points in the second quarter, with the first of his 3-pointers coming on an assist from Cooper for a 21-15 Woodlawn advantage.

Webber didn't get their first lead of the game until near the end of the second quarter.

Marlow and Dalby combined for 10-points in a 10-2 run.

After a pair of inside the arc scores, consecutive 3-point shots by the duo gave Webber a 30-27 lead.

Cooper converted a lay up off of a nice feed from Rollie as the two teams went to the half at 30-29.

(CONTINUED)

Then McKay had his brilliant shooting third quarter and, with a few extra defensive stops, the Cardinals might have been able to put some distance between themselves and Webber.

Marlow scored 11 of his points in the same quarter.

His conventional three-point play late in a quarter, while being fouled by Moser, made it 46-45 Webber.

But the fifth of the 3-point bombs by McKay, from the top of the circle, sent this entertaining game to the final eight minutes with Woodlawn up 48-46.

The fourth quarter, as it has for most of the season for Webber Township, was Marlow time.

The senior scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter on a drive in the lane and then a jumper from the left wing.

Jones made a steal and scored on a fast break which was followed up by a drive in the lane by Dalby.

This run made it 54-48 Webber Township with 4:12 left.

Woodlawn answered with two baskets in succession by Cooper and Rollie to cut the Trojans' lead to just 54-52.

Marlow and Cooper each went 2-of-2 from the foul line on back-to-back possessions.

Then Webber Township closed the book on the victory with foul shots by Dalby and Marlow with under a minute left.

Jones added the icing to the cake on a fast break lay in off of a rebound of a Woodlawn missed shot as the celebration began for the hosts as they knocked off their long-time rivals.

Woodlawn was just 2-of-10 from the field in the fourth quarter with five turnovers.

“Defensively the biggest thing we had to focus on was going down, boxing out and getting rebounds and our guys executed the game plan,” said Marlow. “Waylon Jones stepping up so much on Kyle Cooper. Carter (Bain) stepping in when I had foul trouble, Jacob boxing out on Frick. We want some respect on our name. We want to show that we can go out and compete with the best of them. I was hoping tonight was going to be the night and thank goodness we pulled it off.”

Webber Township held a slight 25-24 rebounding edge and shot the ball at a 50 percent clip overall (23-of-46) and they survived their own mistakes, coughing up 14 turnovers with six in the final quarter, something that the Cardinals failed to capitalize on.

“Jacob (Marlow) did a great job rebounding, Bryden (Dalby) made some chaotic moments happen (defensively) and that when he thrives. Waylon (Jones) and Carter (Bain) on the defensive end did a great job,” said Coach Helm. “He (Marlow) does so much offensively and provides so much else on the floor for us.”

There is much work to do for both teams as they could eventually meet again in the final Midland Trail Conference tournament to be held later this month at Woodlawn.

The league voted to end the long standing (95th) tournament earlier this fall.

Webber Township doesn't have much time to celebrate its win as they will head to Waltonville on Friday night.

The Spartans handed the Trojans their only defeat, a 54-47 loss on November 29th in the championship game of the Christopher Turkey Tournament.

Woodlawn will hit the road to play at Altamont on Saturday before consecutive road trips to Clay County to play Flora and North Clay next week.

“We thought that this might be a 'grind it out' kind of game and it showed that we can adapt to that kind of a game,” said Coach Helm. “I thought we did a good job playing team defense. We had a lot of guys plugging gaps, moving around the floor and helping out.”