Mexico couldn’t wait to score on Wednesday night.

Mexico at Fulton Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs finally had their first shot at North Central Missouri Conference and district rival Fulton after its first meeting in Fulton was postponed due to weather. Mexico played with a running clock most of the fourth quarter in a 68-41 victory for the team’s fifth straight win.

Head coach Darren Pappas said the defense did what it wanted most of the game by running the Hornets off the 3-point line for three quarters. Paul Bruner knocked down two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, but it was too late as Mexico (13-5, 5-0 NCMC) led by as many as 32 points in the game. 

“We did a good job of containing them on the boards as much as we could, limiting them to one shot and out,” Pappas said. “We got deflections and steals.”

Mexico led 16-4 after one quarter and then 36-13 at halftime. It was difficult for Fulton (6-12, 1-4 NCMC) to find a consistent scoring threat until Thomas Pittman emerged more in the second half to finish with 15 points. 

It was simply too hard for the Hornets to not be shaky on offense because of Mexico collecting 15 steals and putting pressure on them by outrebounding 32-22. The Bulldogs used double teams effectively to throw off Fulton ball handlers, and outside of early transition hiccups, they made Fulton pay for their mistakes.

“In the first half, we struggled just a little bit as I think we were just a little too energized for this rivalry game,” Pappas said. “Sometimes, we were making one too many extra passes. They finally settled down and started executing.” 

Jaydon Eldridge was on a hot streak starting in the second quarter to finish with a game-high 25 points and put Fulton into a bigger hole. He and PJ Perkins — 12 points and eight rebounds — each threw down dunks for morale boosts, but Eldridge was effective from long range by hitting three of his four 3-pointers in the second quarter, including a long buzzer beater to close the first half.

Eldridge is the team’s highest returning scorer who made the most 3-pointers for Mexico last season. The senior can definitely have those good shooting nights and said there are many on the team that can get hot.

“Everybody says shooters shoot so I just keep on shooting,” Eldridge said. “When you’re hot, you’ve got to feed the hot hand obviously. I had the hot hand tonight, and my teammates found me.”

Pappas complimented Eldridge’s teammates for finding him shots when it became apparent he was feeling it. After nights Eldridge or others on the team have struggled offensively, Pappas said it is good to see any of his kids have a night like Eldridge, which opens up opportunities for others to score like Charlie Fisher finished with nine points and Holden Aulbur had eight points.

“It’s rewarding to see kids that struggle early and have definitely put in the work outside of practice to find his groove,” Pappas said. I think he’s relaxing and having fun and not putting so much pressure on himself. That’s what's good about this team. Any given night, anybody can be hot.”

Mexico plays another conference and district rival around 7:30 p.m. Friday at home for its Courtwarming game against Moberly (11-9, 4-1 NCMC). Eldridge said it is nice to have beaten one rival already this week in such a dominant manner.

“We really wanted to come out here and put them to sleep early,” Eldridge said.