The third-quarter run never came.

Mexico and Macon battled through a physical, low-scoring first half of the Class 4, District 8 Championship in Centralia on Saturday.

The Bulldogs had a highlight sequence early when Isaiah Reams caught a body on a breakaway dunk and Peyton Willer followed it with a 3-pointer to bring the Mexico crowd to its feet. But Macon took advantage of Mexico turnovers and hung around, trailing 12-8 after one.

“They made great adjustments,” head coach Darren Pappas said of the Tigers. “They ran that 2-3 zone, which Centralia did a good job of that in the semifinal game, so they kind of piggybacked off that and made it tough for us.”

Jordan Shelton opened the second quarter with a steal and breakaway slam, and then Donye Nunnelly dropped a high-low dime to Daeye Miller for a bucket, but Macon finished the quarter on a 5-0 run to head into halftime trailing the Bulldogs by just three, 20-17.

The first half played out much like the Bulldogs’ previous game against Centralia, in which the two teams fought back and forth, with Mexico leading 26-18 at the break before exploding for a 15-3 third-quarter run.

Reams hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter on Saturday, and Willer hit his second of the contest, but the Bulldogs were unable to put together a stretch similar to Wednesday’s to pull away.

And Macon wasn’t just lingering, like an annoying fly buzzing around. They scrapped for offensive rebounds and extra opportunities and were within one possession, trailing just 35-32 with 3:15 remaining in the game.

The Tigers were no longer just a nuisance. They were a threat.

“Give credit to Macon, they came in and swiped some offensive boards against us,” said Pappas. “I felt like we didn’t put a body on people and box them out. We’ve got to do a better job of that, we can’t just rely on Daeye and Michael to go get the rebounds.”

With just over two minutes to play, Miller connected on 1 of 2 free throws and Michael White came up with a steal on the ensuing possession to hit D.J. Long for a breakaway to give Mexico a 41-32 advantage.

It was the biggest lead of the game for Mexico and felt like the first time all day the Bulldog faithful could take a collective breath.

Not so fast.

Macon coughed up the rock coming out of a timeout and Shelton broke away, attempting to bring the house down with a thunderous windmill dunk—but it clanked off the back iron. Immediately after, Long missed a two-handed jam and was called for a non-unsportsmanlike technical for hanging on the rim.

The Tigers converted both free throws to pull within 41-34, and then, after retaining possession following the technical, Macon junior Hayden Lovingier buried a triple and the Bulldogs’ fans chests tightened again, 41-37 with a minute to go.

The whiplash-inducing momentum shift was felt throughout the gym as the two teams strolled to their respective benches for a timeout.

And though the last minute wasn’t exactly pretty—with Mexico missing a bunny and shooting just 4 of 8 from the free-throw line—the Bulldogs did enough defensively to fend off the Tigers and hold on to win, 45-39.

“They maybe were a little intense and tight about the situation,” Pappas explained. “But we’ve got enough senior leadership that they were all saying in the timeout, ‘Let’s go get a stop.’ And that’s what we need, we need that senior leadership to step up in crunch moments and tough times like this.”

Reams led all scorers with 13, Miller scored eight, Shelton and Willer each finished with seven, and White and Long each chipped in five in a contest that ended up much closer than many expected.

“That’s playoff basketball,” Pappas said after the game. “It’s not going to be a huge blowout by any means. It’s going to be a grindfest until the very end.”

Doing enough to survive and advance, the Bulldogs now move into the Class 4 State Tournament. They’ll travel to Troy Buchanan High School on Tuesday to take on St. Charles West (17-10), with tipoff at 7:45 p.m.