Mexico sophomore Daeye Miller (13) delivers a pass along the baseline while being guarded by Moberly's Té Jon Mozee during Monday's first-round game of the Class 4 District 8 Tournament in Mexico. Miller provied six points to help Mexico come from behind and beat the Spartans 71-64. [Chuck Embree/The Mexico Ledger]

There was an upset in the making Monday night.

Moberly entered with just two wins attached to its name this season and already sustained losses by 38 and 32 points to Mexico upon facing its North Central Missouri Conference rival a third time.

But the Spartans, the sixth seed in the Class 4 District 8 Tournament being played this week in Mexico, stunned the host and third-seeded Bulldogs boys basketball team by developing a 10-point first-quarter lead. Moberly then maintained an advantage at the end of each of the first three quarters.

The improved Spartans frustrated Mexico on both ends of the floor en route to carrying a 50-42 lead to open the fourth quarter.

But the Bulldogs regained a burst of energy and tied the score at 56 on a pair of free throws by Zach Watkins with 3:54 remaining.

The momentum shift favored Mexico.

Within the next 20 seconds, sophomore Michael White scored twice in transition when Moberly turned the ball over on consecutive possessions to garner a Bulldog lead for the first time since four minutes following tip-off.

Mexico never looked back, surviving for a 71-64 win on its home court.

“Moberly beat us in every aspect of the game for three and a half quarters when we finally decided to play defense in the way we know how to in the full court. We got some turnovers and capitalized to score on those efforts late,” Mexico coach Darren Pappas said. “I give much credit to Moberly. They played one heck of a ballgame.”

Mexico (14-11) advances to play second-seed Fulton (14-10) in a semifinal Tuesday. Meanwhile, the other semifinal pits No. 1 Kirksville (19-5) against Hannibal (10-13), a 62-58 winner against Warrenton on Monday.

The district championship is set for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off Thursday, with the winner advancing to the state sectional round in Troy.

Drew Blevins, a 6-foot-2 sophomore post, emerged as Mexico's leading scorer with 18 points. Junior Raef Yager scored15 points, junior Isaiah Reams supplied 11 and senior Watkins tallied 10.

White finished the outing with nine points and Daeye Miller had six while Peyton Willer and Ty Prince scored four points each.

Moberly (2-22) exerted much energy from the get-go, and for the first time this season, the Spartans claimed a lead against Mexico when junior Toby Short made a 6-foot-jumper for a 12-11 edge.

Sophomore point guard Jaisten Payne supplied back-to-back layups from forced turnovers and capped an 8-0 run with 1:15 left in the first quarter for a Moberly 16-11 advantage, and this prompted Mexico into taking its second time out.

Scoring in the first segment ended when Dominic Stoneking fed the ball to Payne in the corner where he dropped in an open 3-pointer for a 23-13 score.

“I sensed we were going to find success early when we were getting the ball past their press to where we were scoring well in transition, and we established our offense to work the ball to score inside against them. We were doing a lot of things well in this game, things that we have struggled with in trying to do in previous games, and I'm so proud of how well our guys played and fought,” Spartans coach Cord Hagedorn said. “When so many of our early shots were falling, I think it motivated our guys to play smarter and harder, and it showed.”

With shots misfiring in the second quarter, Moberly clung to a 35-33 lead at halftime, then regained control when play resumed, extending its lead to 50-42 following Payne's bomb from the top of the key with 1:11 left in the third.

Mexico, however, pulled things together for the final eight minutes of play to survive Moberly's upset bid.

“We came out playing very flat and out of sync to where we did not handle the ball well for much of this game. Moberly capitalized on our mistakes early, and they get credit for the way they played defense against us,” Pappas said. “I think this served as a wake-up call as we barely survived this game.”

Payne finished the night scoring a game-high 20 points, Short provided 13 and Derieus Wallace added 11 for the Spartans.

“If we played at least one more game, I might say this game could be said as a moral victory, but because it's our final game and there are many days before we get started on a new season, that idea is taken away,” Hagedorn said.

nav-oc Naviga Writer 2020-03-03T15:54:39Z false yes SPORTS