For the Mexico boys, the offense came in threes on Monday at home.

Mexico vs Marshall Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs’ winning streak is so far up to eight with their 80-44 victory over North Central Missouri Conference foe Marshall. They drained 10 3-pointers just two games after they hit 11 3-pointers in a 75-57 Courtwarming win over Moberly. 

Mexico (16-5, 7-0 NCMC) scored the first nine points against Marshall (9-12, 1-5 NCMC) and didn’t look back, leading 53-23 at halftime and ending with its third 80-point game of the season. Head coach Darren Pappas said his players knew exactly how to attack Marshall’s defense in Mexico’s second victory against the Owls after beating them 73-40 on the road earlier this season.

“We just moved the basketball really well, tried to penetrate gaps against their zone and try to kick to shooters,” Pappas said. “When we get our feet set with open looks, I really like our chances.”

Mexico has drained at least nine 3-pointers in five of its previous six games, including the 10 against Marshall, the 11 against Moberly and the 14 in its season-high 89 points against Palmyra. After Jaydon Eldridge’s game-high 21 points he earned mostly through midrange and driving to the rim, Charlie Fisher and Austin Maxwell each hit three 3-pointers. Fisher finished with 13 points, and Maxwell had 11 points off the bench.

One game after Kaden Benne went crazy from the perimeter with 26 points and six 3-pointers in a 72-54 win at Quincy Notre Dame (Illinois), he finished with nine points, six rebounds and four assists. Benne and others on this team supply the hot hand or hot hands, according to Fisher.

“We’re all finding our groove,” Fisher said. “If one guy’s hot, we’re getting him the ball, but if everyone is out like tonight, we’re all distributing and getting each other shots.”

Fisher said Mexico is skilled at moving without the ball and its chemistry makes sure the ball is put into the right spots against the defense. It doesn’t matter who it is, the Bulldogs are finding open shots for anybody who is open.

Six Bulldogs hit at least one 3-pointer against Marshall, giving them their best distributed game at the perimeter since six players hit 3-pointers against Palmyra. Pappas likes when his team looks like this as it involves more players and makes Mexico harder to defend.

“It’s contagious,” Pappas said. “When they see one fall, they see another fall. You would rather have that contagious and constant feeling of ‘any time I catch the ball and release it, it can possibly go in.’”

Pappas said Mexico was even playing “too unselfish” at times since the extra passes lead to turnovers. Mexico’s unselfish play gave the bench some time to do damage, including Maxwell’s bust night shooting from deep.

“He’s capable of those types of performances,” Pappas said. “Austin’s a shooter. We keep challenging him to be a better defender. We have a lot of confidence in his shooting abilities, especially when he has space.”

The Bulldogs were mostly sound on defense and made Marshall pay for its misses by outrebounding the Owls 37-19. 

Mexico is playing its best basketball near the end of the regular season but can’t be concerned with the postseason yet. The Bulldogs have five more regular season games, starting with a 7:30 p.m. Thursday trip to Class 2 No. 5 Harrisburg (16-4).

“We just need to continue to buy in and continue to get better,” Pappas said. “We’re going to get everybody’s best shot from here on out. We need to continue to stick to the game plan and scouting reports and get better collectively as a unit.”