One bad quarter wasn’t enough to take down the Mexico boys on Monday.

Mexico vs Fulton Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs led archrival Fulton by 22 points at halftime at home until the Hornets cut the margin to as low as 14 points at the end of the third quarter before Mexico eventually won 66-38. After being outscored 17-9 in the third quarter, Mexico outscored its North Central Missouri Conference and district foe Fulton 20-6 in the fourth quarter.

Head coach Darren Pappas called two timeouts in the third quarter to help Mexico (19-6, 9-0 NCMC) regroup. The Bulldogs’ point guard Charlie Fisher scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter to round out a stat line of seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.

“We knew we had a lot of mental mistakes,” Fisher said. “After he called that timeout, he talked us back into the game and tried to get us going. He told us to play smart and calm down, and we just executed and took it from there.”

Pappas said the defense was “stagnant” and the offense was “out of character” making mistakes that weren’t made all season. Fulton (9-13, 4-5 NCMC) did score inside on some cuts to the rim by Ethan Milius, helping him lead the Hornets with 13 points, but they were happening more frequently as Miles Bethell scored all eight of his points in the second half. 

The first half was much closer to what Pappas and the Bulldogs wanted as Jaydon Eldridge led the offense before finishing with 21 points, nine rebounds and three 3-pointers. He and PJ Perkins — 12 points and six rebounds — had some dunks and were guarding much better along with the rest of the team. Pappas said Mexico just “got back to the basics.”

“They did a good job of spreading us out, cutting it and finding the cutters, and finishing around the rim,” Pappas said. “We communicated a little bit more and definitely tried to contain them and hold them to one shot and out.”

Mexico wants to have a “sense of urgency” for all four quarters now it has district competition next week. The Bulldogs are the No. 1 seed in Class 4 District 8, which also contains Hallsville, Kirksville, Centralia, Fulton and Moberly. They open districts against the winner of Centralia and Moberly at 6 p.m. next Wednesday in Moberly.

Any of those teams can give opponents a good fight, Pappas said, so none of them can be overlooked. He said Mexico has “one of the toughest districts in the state.”

“You can’t let teams this late in the year, especially when we get into district play, just hang around,” Pappas said. “If you do, then it could be a different outcome.”

Fisher said his job as point guard, as Mexico was trying to get back on track in the second half, is easier because he knows he can count on his teammates. If he puts them in a position to succeed, the Bulldogs have a good chance to succeed. He was in a good position to score plenty in the fourth quarter.

“I got a few offensive rebounds so I tried to read it off the rim and went back up with it a couple times,” Fisher said. “A few times, I read the passing lanes and got some steals.”

Pappas said Fisher did well reading the defense and then attacking the defense, especially around the baseline. 

“When he did get some switches, he did a good job of attacking on the Fulton’s switches,” Pappas said. “We need him to stay aggressive like that and get downhill.”

Pappas added Fisher’s efforts also helps set up shooters on the perimeter. Mexico has been dangerous from deep, multiple games with at least nine 3-pointers and even some in double digits. However, the Bulldogs relied on other areas than their outside game against Fulton since they only had four 3-pointers.

“That’s a credit to our defense,” Pappas said. “When the shots aren’t falling, you’ve got to lean on that defense. We did a good job in the first half of getting deflections, getting steals and getting out in transition. In the second half, we had to sit down and guard in the half court.”

Fisher said Mexico has certain goals it wants to “check off” its list like winning the conference and winning 20 games. The Bulldogs clinched conference with a 70-37 win at Moberly on Friday, which involved the same double-digit scorers of Eldridge, Perkins and Fisher. Eldriged led with 21 points, Perkins had 14 points and Fisher added 10 points.

Pappas said it is difficult to win conference, especially in back-to-back seasons and four times in five years like Mexico has done. No matter the records, opponents like Fulton will always give their best effort. Despite that, the Bulldogs remained an undefeated 9-0 in conference play.

“When you win a conference championship, that shows you’ve done a good job over the length of the season,” Pappas said. “We feel like the NCMC is one of the toughest. They’re the most familiar of what we try to do offensively and defensively.”