In a blink, Mexico mounted runs against Centralia on Wednesday.

Centralia vs Mexico Photo Gallery

In  the Class 4 District 8 semifinals in Moberly, the Centralia boys' season came to end with a 72-42 loss to No. 1 seed Mexico. The Panthers opened the game down 24-9 and eventually trailed 63-33 at the end of the third quarter.

Head coach Chad Thall said not only do you have to be concerned about multiple players for Mexico, but each player is capable of doing several things. In the first quarter, back-to-back 3-pointers by Mexico sparked an 8-0 after Centralia tied it early at 5, but the Panthers struggled to bring the margin down again.

"They're very athletic and are good basketball players to match it," Thall said. "It's not like you can say let's just back off on this guys and don't let him go around you, because if you do, he's going to shoot it."

Shots were falling for Mexico, including Jaydon Eldridge and his five 3-pointers. He led the Bulldogs with 21 points, which matched the amount scored by PJ Perkins. Kaden Benne gave Mexico one more in double figures with 10 points, and James Matthews had nine points off the bench.

Thall said defending the skill along with the execution from Mexico can be difficult. When one aspect is countered, another can pop up.

"(Mexico head coach) Darren (Pappas) does an awesome job with those guys. They're always in the right spot. If you guard them well, they come back with something different."

Before the lead became insurmountable going into the fourth quarter, Centralia cut its deficit to as low as 43-30 to force a Mexico timeout. Travis Brooks, in his final game as  Panther, scored in the quarter as part of his nine points as did Ethan Ross before eventually finishing with a team-high 10 points.

Anthony Ford finished with nine points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. Thall said the battle on the boards showed who had the momentum in that quarter as the team in control of the game was able to grab quick rebounds and score quickly. Mexico did that for most of the game.

"We were getting shots around the basket, which is what we have focused on most of the year," Thall said. "The big thing was we got a hand in their face, they missed the shot and we got the rebound. Not allowing them to get offensive rebounds in that stretch was really what brought us back in it. Getting shots around the basket and putting them in slows them down from running."

Ultimately, Thall said it is difficult to keep up with a team like Mexico and that resulted in Centralia's second loss to the Bulldogs this season following a 60-47 defeat in Mexico. The Bulldogs beat the Panthers 66-46 in last year's district title game as well.

Centralia this year was able to pick up a win in districts when it defeated Moberly 67-59 in overtime on Monday. Four Panthers scored in double figures that night, starting with Brooks at 16 points and Ford, Ross and Hunter Hull each with 14 points.

"We're going to have a lot of guys that produced for us this year coming back next year so we have something to build on," Thall said. 

Thall added that Centralia will miss seniors Brooks, Logan Rosenfelder and Dryst Bostick, who have all received starting time this season and have each meant a lot to the program.

"You couldn't have three guys lead by example better than they did," Thall said. "Those guys worked, they do the hard stuff, and they do anything that has to be done day in and day out. The younger guys getting to watch those guys for four years is really good for them."