Mexico Basketball Splits in Hannibal

The Mexico boys and girls basketball squads got back on the hardwoods tonight (Thursday) as they traveled to Hannibal as part of a Quad-(Varsity-Junior Varsity) Header. Once against, the high school had a quad split, this time it was by gender, after a couple of disappointing losses Tuesday night in their home openers.

The Mexico girls kicked off the varsity side of the contests with a 51-44 North Central Missouri Conference loss to the Lady Pirates. Mexico fell to 3-6 with the loss, 1-2 in the NCMC. Hannibal is now 6-2 and 2-1.

The Lady Dawgs had trouble early with Hannibal’s full-court defense and fell behind 11-7 after the first quarter. It only got worse to open the second as Hannibal substituted freely with a bench five deep. Down twelve to the Lady Pirates, Head Coach Ed Costley did some substituting of his own, bringing out all five starters at one time. The move seemed to spark the Dawgs as they kept it close the rest of the quarter but still trailed at the half, 28-17. The damage had been done.

The second half Mexico outscored Hannibal 27-23, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the sloppiness of the first half. Mexico was also just 11 of 23 from the free throw line.

Claire Hudson once again paced Mexico with 9 point, Mackenzie Taylor had 8 off the bench and Lexie Willer added 7.

The Junior Varsity girls also lost, 38-26.

In boys’ action, MHS see-sawed back-and-forth in the first quarter with a 6-0 run to start the game highlighted by four of the six points from Jordan Shelton and strong play from forward Dante Kelly, who got the start. Hannibal answered back with a 5-0 run before Mexico returned fire with a 5-0 run of their own. The Dawgs ended the quarter up 13-9.

DJ Long then went on a tear in the second quarter as he hit two three-pointers early and scored all 14 of Mexico’s points in the frame. The Dawgs held Hannibal to just five points in the second, on a trey and two free throws, and led at the break, 27-14.

Mexico opened the third by getting the game away with a 9-0 run, spearheaded by Jaydon Eldridge’s trey and a couple of buckets down low from Donte Nunnelly and PJ Perkins. Mexico had their biggest lead of the game after three quarters, 44-22.

Play got interesting, early in the fourth, when Nunnelly was whistled for an intentional foul as he ran through a Hannibal pick at the top of the wing and then picked up a technical as he came off the floor. The two fouls and the possession gifted Hannibal a six-point trip down the floor, but Shelton came alive from there, as he scored eight in the quarter and the Dawgs responded with a 58-36 win.

Long lead all scorers with 20, Shelton finished with 17, and Perkins had 10 points for MHS. Mexico went 5 of 9 at the line, while Hannibal was 10 of 14.

The boys, ranked #5 in Class Four, are now 6-2 on the season and 2-1 in the NCMC. They play again Saturday against North Point High School in the Gary Filbert Classic at Mexico High School.

The Mexico Junior Varsity boys won by a landslide, 53-18. The Dawgs got out to a commanding 25-4 first quarter lead and never looked back. They are now 4-0 on the season.