The Mexico boys had their toughest test on Tuesday at home since their most recent loss Dec. 29 in the Rolla championship game against Rolla. The Class 4 No. 8 Bulldogs held off Class 5 Warrenton 67-62 in the their first meeting since 2016, when Warrenton won 60-55 in a Class 4 district tournament.
Both sides had a few players emerge as go-to scorers, including Jaydon Eldridge and DJ Long for Mexico (16-2) and Joe Goldsmith and Troy Anderson for Warrenton (10-7). Eldridge edged Long by one point with 24 points, six rebounds and four steals and Long had 23 points and five assists. Goldsmith was dangerous from deep with his game-high 29 points and six 3-pointers and Anderson followed with 19 points and three 3-pointers.
Warrenton had a 50-47 lead in the final two minutes of the third quarter before Eldridge rebounded a ball before launching a long assist to PJ Perkins in stride for a dunk, and not long after, Long nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Mexico a 53-51 lead going into the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs then took a 59-51 lead after several fastbreak buckets.
"It was really helpful actually," Eldridge said. "We finally found out we were getting ready to lose so we got up and pressured them and got in transition to score easy buckets."
Head coach Darren Pappas said Mexico was in foul trouble for the first time in a "a long time that I can remember." Perkins picked up three fouls in the first half, and Kaden Benne reached four fouls in the second half so both were limited as they each had six points. Pappas said Charlie Fisher, Aidan Knipfel and Holden Aulbur each did well stepping up early off the bench to cover for them, but Warrenton still presented problems that were hard to cover.
"They quit hitting shots, honestly," Pappas said. "We held them to 11 points total in the fourth quarter, and that was just mixing it up and putting a little more pressure on them in the full court. You try to get up and put pressure on them as much as possible and disrupt their rhythm offensively, and they handled the pressure in the half court."
Mexico hosts district foe Macon (2-12) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Look for the full story in the Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, edition of the Mexico Ledger.
