The Mexico boys want to be deeper on the roster to go deeper this season.

Filbert Photos

The Bulldogs had 12 players score, led by 17 points from Jordan Shelton and 12 points from DJ Long, in a 69-38 victory against North Point (1-2) in the final game of the Gary Filbert Classic in the Mexico Sports Complex.

Shelton was named the Player of the Game for also recording six steals and two blocks while Long ran the offense as the point guard and served as a viable second scoring option along with his five rebounds and three steals. Head coach Darren Pappas said the Bulldogs (7-2) want to see production out of more players so they can make a potentially deep run when the postseason hits.

“I thought our bench really stepped up and contributed,” Pappas said. “We’re going to need that from them. A lot of them are fairly young and never had varsity experience, and I think it’s good in this type of ballgame to get them in the rotation and get them comfortable. Hopefully, we can see some success like we did tonight, and we can keep building as we get closer and closer to February. It’s going to take all 14 guys if we want to make a good run.”

Freshman Charlie Fisher has rewarded Mexico for the playing time he has received in recent games and Saturday night was no different. He scored seven of Mexico’s total 30 bench points. Jaydon Eldridge hit two 3-pointers and PJ Perkins finished with a team-high nine rebounds to go with two steals. Austin Maxwell had five points, including a 3-pointer and Holden Aulbur pulled down three rebounds, feeding into the Bulldogs’ 35-18 domination on the boards.

Mexico was able to give its starters some rest after building a commanding lead early in the game. The Bulldogs led 20-11 after one and then 41-22 at halftime, coming away with 10 steals through 16 minutes.

“Defensively, we were getting some traps and then rotating out of them, generating some steals and some turnovers and then being able to get out in transition to score some easy buckets,” Pappas said. “They were a fairly young team, and we wanted to make sure we put as much pressure on them as possible. That’s kind of what we want to be defensively.”

Shelton made a statement with a dunk off an alley-oop pass for the first bucket of the game. Long followed with a dunk of his own off a turnover, and the Bulldogs were off to the races through the next two quarters.

Mexico ended the first half on a 23-14 run after Tyler Standridge hit the second of his 3-pointers in the first quarter, making it 13-8 Mexico.

Standridge finished with four 3-pointers, Trammel Mooney tied Standridge for the team-lead on the Grizzlies with 12 points, and Trey Trennepohl finished with seven points and three steals.

Pappas said he was especially impressed with how Long functioned as the point guard, getting all of his teammates involved. In the second quarter alone, seven Bulldogs scored.

“Offensively, I thought we moved the ball really well,” Pappas said. “I can’t say enough about DJ Long. I thought he played a really, really good game as a point guard and as a leader. On the defensive end, he did a good job vocally, and offensively, I thought he did a good job facilitating.”

Mexico has another shootout for its next game as the Bulldogs participate in the Moberly Area Community College Shootout, facing Blair Oaks (2-3) at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 30.