Mexico's Raef Yager (25) releases a shot during a home game against Kirksville on Friday night in North Central Missouri Conference play. [Langston Newsome/The Mexico Ledger]

Kirksville boys basketball coach Tyler Martin couldn’t help but run down the sideline with glee. He sprinted to the scorer’s table, slapping it while screaming, “Let’s go!” 

Senior Paxton Dempsay drained a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left in the fourth quarter. He was scoreless through three quarters, but in the fourth, Dempsay came alive and scored seven points to secure the Tigers’ victory.

“I felt like we had a decent contest on it,” Mexico coach Darren Pappas said. “But that’s what veteran players do. They hit shots at the right moment. We knew he was a heck of a shooter. … Give him credit, it was deep.”

Sophomore Isaiah Reams had two looks at a game-tying answer, but both clanked off the rim. The Bulldogs opened the game on an 11-2 run, but over the course of the North Central Missouri Conference game, Pappas watched that lead dwindle.

Mexico squandered an 11-point third quarter from junior Raef Yager, who ended with a team-high 19 points, and couldn’t contain junior forward Noah Copeland for the second time within a week.

Six days after falling to Kirksville by six in the Macon Tournament, Mexico lost another close one to the Tigers at home Friday night, this one by a final score of 68-63.

Unlike the first matchup, Mexico jumped out to a hot start. The Bulldogs led 17-11 at the end of the first quarter, but with six minutes left in the second, Kirkville was only down 22-20. The Tigers were on an 18-11 run since midway through the first quarter.

After Mexico (7-10) led 34-33 at halftime, Copeland began to take over for Kirksville (15-2) in the second half. He scored seven points in the third quarter and the Bulldogs had no answer for him in the post. He finished with a game-high 26 points.

Yager kept Mexico close in the third quarter. His two 3-pointers were huge to tie the game at 49 heading into the fourth.

But once again the Bulldogs’ youth and inexperience showed at the end of the game.

“The message after the game was that we need to learn and grow from this,” Pappas said. “We’re playing good basketball at the right time. These types of things, we can’t let be the end of our season. … We have to move on and get better.”

Mexico is scheduled to play at Marshall at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

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