For Mexico head coach Darren Pappas, win No. 100 wouldn’t have been possible without his players.

Mexico at St. Elizabeth Photo Gallery

The Bulldog alumnus earned his 100th career coaching victory on Friday in St. Elizabeth in his sixth season as the head coach. Mexico won 81-67 — recording its third 70-point game in four games after four such games in the previous 19 — behind four Bulldogs scoring in double figures.

“It’s big, but it’s really not about me. It’s about our program,” Pappas said. “It’s about the kids that we coach. It’s about my assistants — Bill Gleeson and Dion Nunnelly. Those guys are a huge part of our success. It takes a team to win those games. It’s not just one coach. We’ve been blessed and fortunate to have some really good players that followed our lead and listened to us, and that’s a credit to them.”

DJ Long led Mexico (15-8) with 24 points, seven rebounds and four steals, Jaydon Eldridge followed with 17 points and three 3-pointers, Jordan Shelton had 12 points and four steals off the bench, and Donye Nunnelly finished with 11 points and six rebounds. Anthony Shivers was almost the fifth one with his eight points.

Pappas said he didn’t reveal to his players before Friday’s game that he was on the cusp of No. 100 as he said Mexico is a culture that focuses on the team first. Besides, his players are motivated enough.

“That’s just their nature. They want to compete. They want to win at all costs,” Pappas said. “Individual accolades, we don’t talk about a whole lot. As a program, we really focus on the team aspects. I’m just blessed and fortunate to coach some really good kids.”

From start to finish, the Bulldogs had the lead against Class 1 St. Elizabeth (15-10) in a matchup between two teams that have been state-ranked this season. Mexico shot ahead 17-8 in the first quarter and then 31-20 in the second quarter prior to the Hornets surging back behind 31-29.

Jace Kesel was a big problem most of the night as he finished with 24 points and 20 rebounds to lead St. Elizabeth. Kesel had 16 points and 13 rebounds through two quarters, but the Bulldogs were able to close the first half on a 14-2 run and 50-35 lead.

“We continued to talk to them about sitting down and playing defense and try to lock down the boards as much as possible,” Pappas said. “They’re probably the most physical team we’ve played all season. They dictated some of our possessions by their physicality inside and outside.”

Eldridge’s third 3-pointer capped a run that had Mexico ahead 63-45 with 2:39 left in the third quarter, making it its biggest lead of the game. Eldridge had a fast start with two 3-pointers as part of 12 points in the first quarter, bouncing back from shooting struggles he had in the previous game against Marshall.

Pappas said he was glad to have scoring contributions from several Bulldogs including Eldridge, Long finding open players and penetrating in the paint, Nunnelly providing a presence inside and Shelton giving “everything he had” off the bench despite dealing with a knee at less than 100 percent.

“They went zone so we hit shots from the perimeter,” Pappas said. “Anytime we can get four or five guys in double figures, I like our chances.”

Shelton is one of three seniors on the team along with Shivers and Dante Kelley. He said he is fortunate to have been able to play for Pappas throughout high school and was glad the players were able to give him No. 100.

Earning that victory, Shelton said, took some work as the Bulldogs had to stick to the boards and contest with the mountainous 6-foot-5 frame of Kesel.

“It was just more about having more than one person box him out at a time given how big he was,” Shelton said.

Pappas said not much can be done with Kesel as he uses his size well when it comes to positioning and finishing at the basket. Kesel scored 14 of his points in the first quarter and added eight points in the fourth quarter as St. Elizabeth tried to make a last-ditch run to decrease the Mexico lead from 18 points to 13 points.

“They found him early and they found him often,” Pappas said. “We have to do a better job of knowing that. We have to pay attention to those details, maybe doubling down on him a little bit more. We like to play behind, but we can’t play behind against physical and strong post players like that. We’ve got to be able to try to front them and have backside help.”

Pappas said Mexico (6-1 NCMC) is focused on winning another North Central Missouri Conference title now but has a tough test Tuesday in Class 4 No. 7 Fulton (18-3, 6-1 NCMC) in a matchup that will likely decide the champion. The Bulldogs then play at Moberly (3-17, 1-6 NCMC) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.