One night after Mexico lost in the final seconds at Harrisburg, School of the Osage nailed a last-second shot to take a halftime lead.

Mexico vs Osage Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs trailed Osage 34-32 after a Dayne Depee buzzer-beating 3-pointer on Friday at home when they were already coming off a 57-56 loss at Harrisburg. Mexico scored 42 points in the second half and Jaydon Eldridge led with 27 points to beat Osage 74-60.

Head coach Darren Pappas said Osage is definitely no slouch on offense as it went in averaging 66 points per game compared to Mexico’s 65 points per game. Osage’s most recent loss was also a close 67-65 defeat to Southern Boone, but Pappas said the Bulldogs came out hot in the second half after a “player-led halftime speech.”

“We stepped out of the locker room and let them talk,” Pappas said. “We’re at the point of the season where players need to step up and be leaders. It was mainly just focusing on doing a better job defensively and we’ve got to do a better job on the boards and on closeouts on shooters on the perimeter.”

Osage had to call timeout halfway through the third quarter after Mexico jumped ahead 46-36 for the game’s first double-digit margin. At the forefront of the scoring in the third quarter were the seniors Eldridge and PJ Perkins, who combined for 13 points.

Eldridge had a huge second half by scoring 20 points while finishing the game with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. At halftime, his 1,000-point celebration happened at midcourt but was focused on making sure the team was playing classic Mexico basketball again.

“We finally started getting back on defense, rotating better, and we started rebounding and blocking out,” Eldridge said. “We told everybody in the locker room that we got to get out and run, got to rebound, and we got to block out guys because that’s what is going to win us the game.”

Perkins followed Eldridge with 16 points and eight rebounds, Kaden Benne had 16 points and four 3-pointers and Charlie Fisher finished with eight points and six assists. Maverick Trusty led Osage (15-6) with 18 points and four 3-pointers, Depee followed with 15 points, and Blake Harrison had 14 points.

Osage hit five 3-pointers in the first half, including three of Trusty’s perimeter shots. Trusty had the Indians’ lone 3-pointer in the second half.

“We knew they could shoot it at a high clip from the 3-point line,” Pappas said. “They have some bigs inside you have to worry about too, so if they lose them on the dribble penetration, they can dump it to the bigs to score around the rim. If you suck in too tight into the paint, that leaves the perimeter wide open.”

Pappas said Eldridge is a challenge to guard when he is “in a rhythm” and displays his ability to score from everywhere on the floor. Eldridge had three 3-pointers but also went 6-or-7 from the free-throw line and all of those foul shots were earned in the second half. 

“He had a hot hand,” Pappas said. “A couple times PJ found him, and we had some quick screens from Kaden and Charlie as well. They found him and were able to feed him.”

The eight-game losing streak ended after Trace Combs turned a Mexico turnover into a dunk at the other end, but Pappas said the Bulldogs didn’t let that turn into a loss the next night. He said it isn’t easy to come back so strong after losing a game in which Mexico had a 13-point lead.

“It was good to see them fight through that, find some things and be successful as a group,” Pappas said. 

Mexico plays a rematch at North Central Missouri Conference and district rival Moberly (11-11, 4-3 NCMC) at 7:45 p.m. Friday.