Palmyra went into Tuesday with 14 wins and as a team that received votes in the Class 3 state rankings.
Mexico vs Palmyra Photo Gallery
The Mexico boys didn’t care as they had 10 of …
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Palmyra went into Tuesday with 14 wins and as a team that received votes in the Class 3 state rankings.
Mexico vs Palmyra Photo Gallery
The Mexico boys didn’t care as they had 10 of their players score and combine for 14 3-pointers to beat the Panthers 89-40. The Bulldogs scored a season-high and played with a running clock during the entire fourth quarter.
Head coach Darren Pappas said Mexico (11-5) used defense to take a 49-19 halftime lead and then an 89-40 lead entering the fourth quarter. Pappas described his players as “determined” as of late as the Bulldogs came off a 66-48 win at conference rival Kirksville on Friday and that showed in their play against a solid opponent.
“That’s them getting after it in practice recently trying to get better every single day,” Pappas said. “We tried to keep them out of the lane and contested shots from the perimeter. We did a good job of holding them to one shot and out and getting out in transition.”
Kaden Benne knocked down six of Mexico’s 3-pointers as part of his game-high 24 points, Jaydon Eldridge followed with 17 points, five assists and three 3-pointers, James Matthews added 11 points off the bench, and Holden Aulbur finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Mason Smith led Palmyra (14-4) with 12 points.
“It feels good to come on to the court, making shots and playing together,” Benne said.
The Bulldogs couldn’t miss from 3-point territory, and that especially applied to Benne. The junior has been playing better after struggling at the start of the season, including earning all-tournament honors at the Rolla Holiday Hoops Tournament near the end of December.
Benne said he enjoys playing on a team full of “great basketball players” who can score. Personally, he is glad is in full basketball mode as Mexico goes into the final month of the regular season.
“Those first few games, I just wasn’t all there still coming from football season,” Benne said. “All of the team has been together, we’re finding our flow and everybody’s clicking.”
Pappas said he saw signs of Benne coming around particularly in a 74-40 win in mid-December at Hannibal when he scored 25 points. He said Benne could be that big weapon in the starting lineup and was glad to see him catch fire again on Tuesday.
“This is another one of those big games for him,” Pappas said. “They kept finding him. The defense kept rotating and collapsing on Charlie (Fisher) attacking the basket and then found him. Jaydon, same way, found him on inside-out passes. PJ (Perkins) did a good job of seeing the floor as well.”
Pappas sung the praises of plenty more of his players, including Sam Ryan when he hit two 3-pointers off the bench. Hunter Bickell, Davontae Frame, Brixton Goerne, Kinser Groves and Austin Maxwell provided Mexico good minutes off the bench as well. Standing out on Mexico’s bench was James Matthews, who Pappas expects to be “that spark that we need off the bench” on defense and offense.
No matter who was in there, the Bulldogs didn’t lose much of a step on defense to prevent a similar occurrence to the 30-point comeback by the Lady Bulldogs in their 70-64 loss in the previous game. Mexico can’t lose ground going into next week, which contains four games in five days starting with a 5 p.m. Tuesday game at Class 5 Warrenton (6-6).
“We’ve got to take it one game at a time,” Pappas said. “We play Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. It’s not going to be an easy road ahead.”