The Mexico Bulldogs took down the host Centralia Panthers 51-36 on Wednesday to advance to the Class 4, District 8 title game.

 But it wasn’t without a fight.

 Isaiah Reams got the Bulldogs out to a quick 6-0 start with a bucket and back-to-back no-look passes to Daeye Miller for interior buckets. But Centralia responded with a drive and score by Noah Brooks and hoop and the harm from Grant Erisman.

 The Panthers also did what they could to dictate the pace of the game.

 Centralia methodically worked the ball around the perimeter and stayed patient offensively, and on defense, rushed back and at times fouled to stop any Mexico fastbreak.

 “Our biggest thing was keeping them out of transition,” Centralia head coach Scott Humphrey said. “I thought if we could make it not a track meet we’d have a shot to compete.”

 The Panthers did enough to hang around, matching Mexico with 10 second-quarter points to enter the half trailing 26-18. But the floodgates burst in the third as the Bulldogs upped the defensive pressure and were able to get out and run.

 “Just try to value possessions as much as possible and try to score when we can, and then get stops,” Mexico head coach Darren Pappas told his team to start the third quarter. “Coach Nunnelly calls the defense, he changed it up and went to our 1-3-1 which seemed to be very effective.”

 Michael White started a flurry of Mexico buckets with a 4-0 run of his own. Jordan Shelton skied for a block then pushed in transition. Daeye Miller blocked a shot, snagged the loose ball and dished it ahead to Shelton for a breakaway jam. Peyton Willer knocked down a 3-pointer. And in a play that summed up Mexico’s dominant 15-3 third-quarter run, the Bulldogs swarmed Centralia and forced a 10-second backcourt violation.

 “It’s hard to bottle that up for so long,” Humphrey said. “I think what I was most proud of was the fact that in the third quarter it probably looked like they were going to run away with it. And then we fought back and made it competitive again in the fourth. That’s a testament to the kids.”

 Mexico’s lead swelled to 20, entering the fourth up 41-21, but Centralia answered with a 10-0 run of its own to start the final frame. The home crowd was boisterous as the Panthers grinded to get back in the contest, but after mixing in some rotation players to keep his team fresh, Pappas sent his starters back in to squash any idea of an upset.

 The Bulldogs stayed calm amid the noise and coolly closed things out with a 51-36 win to set up a district title match against Macon.

 “That’s just senior leadership,” Pappas said of his team responding to Centralia runs. “I can’t say enough about these guys. They’re coachable, they listen to us and they know it’s do-or-die at this point in the season. They did a good job of making adjustments, I thought we handled their runs quite well, I thought we handled their pressure around the basket as much as possible, and I can’t say enough about the guys that were relentless on our end.”

 Miller led Mexico with 15 points and Reams was right behind with 14, White finished with nine, Willer scored six and Jordan Shelton and Anthony Shivers added five and two, respectively.

Logan Rosenfelder led Centralia with 11, Erisman and Cullen Bennett each scored eight, Brooks finished with six and Boen Zimmerman and Ramsey Webb chipped in two and one, respectively. The Panthers finished the season with a 13-14 record.

 Mexico will play Macon at 1 p.m.