Mexico boys run around Mizzou court, defeat Ewing M Kauffman 58-42 in Norm Classic

The Bulldogs had much more space to run around on Friday.

Mexico boys, girls at Norm Stewart Classic Photo Gallery

The Mexico boys played in their third Norm Stewart Classic under head coach Darren Pappas and came out of their early afternoon game at Mizzou Arena with a 58-42 victory against Ewing Marion Kauffman, out of Kansas City. Kauffman cut Mexico’s opening-tip-to-final-buzzer lead to 25-23 early in the third quarter prior to a 20-11 third quarter out of the Bulldogs.

Pappas said Mexico (5-0) wasn’t putting enough pressure on Kauffman (4-5) on rebounds and thought they should, given that the Bulldogs are bigger. Safe to say that message was heard as Mexico outrebounded Kauffman 49-36 and held a 31-21 advantage on the defensive glass.

“We were able to put the pressure on them and held them to one shot and out,” Pappas said. “I thought they were hurting us in the first half on the boards.”

Pappas said PJ Perkins showed his size with 16 rebounds and three blocks to go with his 13 points. The Bulldogs also finished with seven blocks, as Donye Nunnelly had two and DJ Long and Holden Aulbur each swatted one away, but Pappas would like to see Perkins have more help on the boards in the future beyond Long’s eight rebounds and Kaden Benne’s five.

For Perkins, it was his first Norm Stewart Classic game since Mexico didn’t participate last season. Despite the experience being unknown, Perkins said he knew what he had to do against the Knights.

“In practice, we were talking about it,” Perkins said. “I knew I could get more rebounds than them so I just kept going out there and fighting for the boards.”

Pappas said Mexico’s size and length threw off Kauffman’s guards when they drove into the lane. Derrick McGee finished with 10 points for the Knights’ lone double-digit scorer and was one of two Knights to hit two 3-pointers along with Jayden Hasam, who Pappas said was paid special attention along with McGee after halftime.

Long was a senior leader that expressed his desire to run against Kauffman in the second half, which proved to be beneficial for him in the form of 11 of his 17 points that went with his eight rebounds, five steals and five assists. Long earned the Gary Filbert MVP award for his outstanding performance but liked how others were instrumental in the win, since he fed some assists to Perkins a few times and Benne finished with 10 points. 

“In the first half, I felt like we were wanting to shoot the ball more,” Long said. “In the second half, we noticed we could just get and run against this team so it was a lot easier.”

Pappas said he loves it when his players speak up and make suggestions from what they can see on the floor, serving as coaches for themselves. He is limited to the sidelines so having that perspective is appreciated. 

“The guys wanted to get out and play it a little more aggressively,” Pappas said. “We were kind of holding them back in the first half, and they came to us and said, ‘Hey, we want to get out and play our style.’”

Pappas said Mexico enjoys the bigger stage and “college atmosphere” that comes with playing in front of legendary Mizzou coach Norm Stewart on the court dedicated to him. That court, however, presents rare challenges due to the greater size of the college court.

“You have to take that into consideration when you’re playing — the length and size of the court,” Pappas said. “Sometimes, you have to take timeouts or get more rotations in because people are tired.”

Fortunately, Pappas said the bigger court worked to the Bulldogs’ advantage as well and let his floor general Long and the other players operate how they wanted. He has lauded Long’s court vision repeatedly, which explains his five assists and near assists on shots that just didn’t fall.

Long said he can do so well because he knows his teammates well and the game so well, which all takes time.

“I just know what spots they’re going to be in,” Long said. “It’s just knowing basketball. I know where guys are going to be and where to put the ball so they can finish on layups and shots like that.”

The Bulldogs continue their season undefeated but liked the experience just as much.

“It definitely is a neat experience,” Pappas said. “It’s always good to honor a legend for the state of Missouri when it comes to basketball in Norm Stewart.”

Mexico girls step on revered stage in 53-28 loss to Osage in Norm Classic

The Mexico girls had plenty of feelings rushing through them on Friday afternoon.

That is understandable given they were the first Lady Bulldogs to play a Norm Stewart Classic game, hence the first to compete on the Mizzou Arena floor. They lost 53-28 to the School of the Osage after being outrebounded 35-23 and outscored 30-8 in the paint but had pleasant takeaways from the experience.

A team is added to the Norm Classic schedule by invitation during the summer, according to Mexico athletic director Brandon Schafer, and it was the Lady Bulldogs’ turn to squeak their shoes on the Mizzou floor. For three of Mexico’s seniors, it couldn’t have come at a better time since this season was their last chance.

“In the beginning, all of us were so scared because it’s Mizzou Arena,” Karlee Sefrit said. “Having it be us and people are watching us play here, it made us feel good. We felt good playing just because we were on a bigger court, which made it a lot harder, but it felt good, where bigger people than us have actually played”

Prior to this season, the Mexico boys have played in the Norm Classic at Mizzou Arena three times, according to boys head coach Darren Pappas. Kylie Burnett recalls watching them play in the past and during the time when the Classic was a 48 hours of basketball shootout.

“I’ve watched the boys at 2 in the morning when they did in past years,” Burnett said. “Being a part and watching the boys before us before we played was a really cool experience, knowing that’s a college court — all the big lights are on you, a big screen is above you. It was just a cool experience to have everybody chanting for Mexico boys and girls.”

The bigger stage brings bigger players and Norm Stewart Court has shown many to Mizzou fans like the Lady Bulldogs. Sophie Cunningham, who has a Norm-Classic type event named after her, is the Mizzou women’s program all-time leading scorer and is still playing for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA. Cunningham is a role model from the past, and Hayley Frank is one for the present.

Addison Heim went into Friday with those thoughts and was happy to have played in the same place as her heroes.

“As a younger kid, watching all of your role models play, it’s just fun to finally be there,” Heim said. “It makes you feel good as a player.”

After one quarter against Osage (5-3), Mexico (2-5) was feeling good due to being within striking distance with a 17-9 deficit after the first quarter. The game started to unravel from there as Osage hit six 3-pointers, including five from Elizabeth Yoder, to take a 42-16 halftime lead.

The biggest problem that set up those perimeter shots was Osage’s size. At the forefront was the Gary Filbert MVP Lauren Bartlett, who finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Bartlett had three offensive rebounds and the Lady Indians had a 15-4 offensive rebound advantage over Mexico.

“We did know they had multiple girls over 6-foot, and we talked about a lot of different strategies in practice,” head coach Makenzie Mudd said. “We can’t help our size and we can’t help that we didn’t have anybody close to that height. We did a really good job of trying on the inside, but I wore them out a little bit trying to get them to front and try to get them to work hard to get around (Bartlett).”

Osage building a sizeable advantage like it had on Friday can lead to mistakes due to players moving too quickly or doing too much, which Mudd said is what happened with the Lady Bulldogs. Mexico finished with 21 turnovers compared to Osage’s 13. 

“We got ourselves into a little bit of a hurry,” Mudd said. “We looked up at the scoreboard and saw how big the gap got and then started to panic, thinking we had to solve it right then and there instead of slowing down and running an offense. We tired ourselves out with quick shots, which is something we’ll talk about at practice before our next game.”

Claire Hudson did manage to finish with double-digit points for Mexico at 14 points to go with eight rebounds and two steals. Sefrit was the next highest scorer at four points and senior Jo Thurman had three points but affected the game with five rebounds and five steals.

Despite the result, Mudd said she is glad the game was able to happen and that the Lady Bulldogs had this opportunity.

“It’s definitely a much bigger stage and much bigger environment,” Mudd said. “There probably were some nerves in there, but I’m glad they all got to experience it and play here even if the outcome wasn’t exactly what we wanted. I think there is a lot of good we can take from this game.”

Sefrit, Burnett and Heim weren't sure if they would ever play at Mizzou Arena so Friday was a day to remember.

“We didn't think we were going to do it, ever, “ Sefrit said. “I don’t think we’ve ever played on a big court like this. We’ve been in bigger tournaments, but we haven’t been in this type of tournament on this court, knowing this is like a home court for us in a college sense. It’s definitely something we don’t get to do every day.”

Lady Bulldogs win first ever team trophy with Polo Duals victory

The Lady Bulldogs ran the table on Saturday at the Polo Duals Tournament.

The Mexico girls won their first ever team trophy after defeating Rock Port 30-27, Polo 42-18, Albany 54-0 and Stanberry 48-12.

Alexus Johns at 235 pounds, Abigail Seibert at 170 and Ava Scheiner at 155 each were undefeated while Alizabeth Welch at 105, Lilly Debo at 110, Jashayla Johnson at 120, Abby Bowen at 130 and Alyssa Knight at 135 each had one loss.

Bulldogs led by trio to middle of pack finish at Union

The Mexico boys had several strong performances Saturday at the Union Tournament.

Grant Van Horn finished first, and Carlos Juarez Ramirez and Emille Scanavino each were second for the Bulldogs to take 10th place out of 20 teams with 94 points.

Van Horn was a perfect 4-0 at the 157-pound weight class after winning by a 17-2 technical fall, second-period pinfall, 13-5 major decision and 15-7 major decision. Ramirez was 2-1 at 106 after receiving a bye from a 7-0 decision victory, 17-2 technical fall and right 6-2 decision loss to Northwest’s Eli Porter. Scanavino was 3-0 at 285 before a close 10-6 decision loss to Ste. Genevieve’s Jacob Schweigert ended his day as he had a first-period pinfall, a 4-2 sudden victory and a third-period pinfall.

At the Haskell Tough as Nails JV Tournament on Saturday in Rolla, Mexico tied with Capital City for ninth out of 13 schools with 80 points. Placing first were Isai Hernandez in the 175A weight class, Jayden Hodge at 190C and Travis Shramek at heavyweightC while Nehemiah Bridges was second at heavyweightC after being pinned by Shramek, who had two pinfalls before that match. Hernandez had two pinfalls, Hodge had two pinfalls and Bridges won by pin twice.