Audrain County basketball put on a show on Monday in Harrisburg.
At a summer shootout, Mexico and Van-Far faced each other as they exchanged leads during the two 16-minute running halves, but …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous website, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
Audrain County basketball put on a show on Monday in Harrisburg.
At a summer shootout, Mexico and Van-Far faced each other as they exchanged leads during the two 16-minute running halves, but the Bulldogs fell 44-40. Van-Far newcomer and transfer from Wellsville-Middletown Carson Huff muscled in a 3-point play to give the Indians the lead for good late to hand Mexico its lone loss of the day as the Bulldogs defeated Cairo and Harrisburg.
In a matchup between teams that have played each other four times during the regular season in the previous seven years, with the most recent game happening in 2020, head coach Darren Pappas said Mexico has already made is apparent it wants to be more aggressive on defense but acknowledged it was maybe too aggressive as Van-Far knocked down free throws to secure the victory.
“Defensively, we didn’t play as in tune as we did last week at Monroe City,” Pappas said. “In the second half, we built a lead and let it dwindle away because we didn’t stick to our assignments and didn’t communicate on the defensive end and gave up some second and third opportunities.”
Pappas said there is no reason to panic as it is summer after all. The Bulldogs are taking advantage of these summer games to figure out what they need to improve on months before the season.
An aspect of the team Pappas said looks good for the season tipoff in November is Mexico’s ability to score in multiple ways with multiple players. Jaydon Eldridge, who played in his first summer games after hitting a team-high 52 shots from 3-point territory last season, took over in the second after Van-Far tied the game at 21 in the first half. Eldridge helped give Mexico almost a 10-point advantage after scoring 11 points, nailing two shots from deep.
“He had the hot hand, and we’re going to need him to fire on all cylinders,” Pappas said. “We have to use his shooting abilities. What I really like about this roster is we have guys who can score on any given possession on any given night. We continue to relay that message to them that we need to try to get at least four guys in double figures every night.”
On Wednesday, Mexico also went 2-1 at a Central Methodist University camp, defeating Class 5 Warrenton and Class 6 Truman and losing to Class 5 Fort Zumwalt.
