It is a fine line between a win and loss in basketball.
The Mexico boys hit a last-second regulation shot before winning 56-49 at Fulton on Jan. 6 but then couldn’t stun Centralia to lose …
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It is a fine line between a win and loss in basketball.
The Mexico boys hit a last-second regulation shot before winning 56-49 at Fulton on Jan. 6 but then couldn’t stun Centralia to lose 46-43 on the road. The Bulldogs (11-4) took a 35-31 lead into the fourth quarter after trailing 26-17 at halftime.
Head coach Darren Pappas said Mexico made some mistakes, and that is all it takes to lose close basketball games like on Friday. However, he said it is also a matter of Centralia (7-6) hitting shots when it had to and shooting 13 free throws in the fourth quarter.
“Give credit to Centralia,” Pappas said. “They made shots and made free throws. They wanted it more tonight, and they just outworked us and outplayed us, especially in the fourth quarter.”
Pappas said the second quarter was definitely a struggle as Mexico only had one field goal and five points in the quarter. Mexico came roaring back in the third quarter by finishing it with a 16-1 run.
The Bulldogs were “stagnant” offensively at times, Pappas said, but there was clearly some fight left in his team in the second half. Mexico was able to run more in the third quarter after forcing turnovers on defense, including when James Matthews hit a 3-pointer off a pass in transition to make it 45-43 Centralia in the final seconds.
“That was a big shot,” Pappas said. “We put a little bit more pressure in the full court and generated some turnovers.”
Matthews finished with six points as did Brady Thoenen, and they followed Charlie Fisher’s 14 points and nine points from Kaden Benne off the bench. Benne drained three 3-pointers in his second game back from a leg injury playing limited minutes to ease back into the rotation.
“Hopefully, we’ll get him back up to full speed,” Pappas said. “He looked better tonight than he did last night (in a 66-44 win at Bowling Green).”
Clayton Moore led Centralia off the bench with 13 points, Anthony Ford finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Ethan Ross had eight points and five rebounds. The bulked-up post Ford scored eight points in the first quarter but didn’t score again until the fourth quarter.
“We tried not to sit behind him because he has such a big body and has good footwork in the post,” Pappas said. “You can’t play behind him and let him just catch it easily.”
Mexico finishes a three-game week on the road with an overtime win in Fulton, a victory at nine-win Bowling Green and a tight loss to Centralia. Pappas said he wants his players to focus on learning from these games, including the tough loss on Friday, before hosting Macon (2-6) at 8 p.m. Friday.
“We can’t let this make or break our season, but we’ve got to learn from it,” Pappas said.
