After his Montgomery County boys basketball team fell 58-54 to the Mexico Bulldogs in the championship game of the Montgomery County Invitational Tournament on Dec. 2 at Ballew & Snell Court, Jake Stellwagen pounded his hands on the court in frustration.

The senior was upset that his team didn’t celebrate its first Montgomery County tournament championship in 10 years.

“It hurts,” Stellwagen said. “I wish I could have done more. I felt like I didn’t do enough for the team.”

The second-seeded Wildcats finished second in the tournament for the seventh time. They placed runner-up in their last championship game appearance in 2017, which was Scott Kroeger’s first year as MCHS coach.

Kroeger said he was pleased with the huge support from the Montgomery County community in both boys and girls championship games. Minutes before the boys game began, the MCHS girls beat Hermann in the title game.

“It was an awesome environment,” Kroeger said. “Obviously, this community is awesome, showing up in droves. The student section was great. I wished we could have ended it on a fun note.”

The Wildcats finished 2-1 in the eight-team tournament. They beat New Haven 89-21 in the first round on Nov. 28 and Fulton 70-54 in the semifinals on Nov. 30.

MCHS dropped to 3-1 with the loss to top-seeded Mexico. The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Southern Boone on Dec. 5.

Mexico won its sixth tournament championship and its third in the last four years. The Bulldogs came back from a 28-22 halftime deficit to beat the Wildcats.

“We came out (in the second half) and had a lack of execution,” Kroeger said. “We really just made some mental mistakes that didn’t show up in the first half. I’ll take the blame for a lot of that stuff, not having them prepared for any given situation. We have to be sharper mentally. That’s always a challenge as a coach to prepare kids for that.”

MCHS played the Bulldogs at the Mexico Jamboree on Nov. 13. Kroeger said he knew Mexico wasn’t going to make things easy for his team in the MCHS title game. 

“They have a lot of experience,” Kroeger said. “I think that played a huge role on top of the fact that they are a good basketball team. They have a lot of players who can exploit weaknesses. They’re well-coached and they play hard together. There are a lot of good things you can say about that team. Obviously, they make games extremely tough for a lot of people they play against, including us.”

Junior Clayton Parker earned tournament MVP honors after scoring 63 points in three games, including 26 against Mexico. He also reached the 1,000-point mark of his career in the contest against the Bulldogs.

Stellwagen, a transfer from Verona High School, was named to the all-tournament team after scoring 44 points in three games. He finished with nine points off the bench against Mexico. He also scored 22 against Fulton and 13 against New Haven.

Kroeger said Stellwagen has been a strong addition to the Wildcats after two weeks.

“It’s clear that he makes a huge difference in key spots,” the MCHS coach said. “He’s really hard on himself about tonight as well as the other kids. It’s going to be about bouncing back and how he handles the next play and the next challenge. He’s got a ton of ability and a ton of talent.”

Stellwagen, who transferred to MCHS at the end of the 2022-23 school year, joined a team that returned several players from last year’s team that won 19 games and an Eastern Missouri Conference championship. He said he enjoys his new school.

“I love it,” Stellwagen said. “I love every guy. I love all of the coaches. It feels like more of a family.”