Adding mouseOver/mouseDown/mouseUp/etc. to custom

I'm new to Flex and am porting a pure Flash/AS3 app to Flex 4.5

I've created a custom MXML component based on BorderContainer

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:BorderContainer 
    xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" 
    xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" 
    xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" 
    width="160" height="140" >

    <s:Image id="_avatar" enableLoadingState="true" 
        x="0" y="0" width="160" height="120" />

    <s:Label id="_username" x="0" y="125" 
        fontSize="12" fontWeight="bold" /> 

</s:BorderContainer>

I'm trying to add highlighting/growing effect on mouseOver

and "pressed down" effect on mouseDown to that component:

<fx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
        import flash.filters.*;

        public static const SHADOW:Array = [ new DropShadowFilter(8, 
            80, 0x000000, 0.2, 32, 32, 1, 1, false, false, false) ];
        public static const GLOW:Array = [ new GlowFilter(0xFFFF00, 
            0.5, 36, 36, 1, 1, false, false) ];

        private var _oldScale:Number;

        private function mouseOver(event:MouseEvent):void {
            _oldScale = scaleX;
            filters = GLOW;
        }

        private function mouseDown(event:MouseEvent):void {
            _oldScale = scaleX;
            scaleX *= 0.95;
            scaleY *= 0.95;
            filters = null;
        }

        private function mouseUp(event:MouseEvent):void {
            scaleX = scaleY = _oldScale;
    filters = GLOW;
        }

        private function mouseOut(event:MouseEvent):void {
            scaleX = scaleY = _oldScale;
            filters = SHADOW;
        }

Unfortunately those methods aren't called at all.

In pure Flash/AS3 app I'd call

        addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, handleMouseOver);
        addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, handleMouseDown);
        addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, handleMouseUp);
        addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT, handleMouseOut);
        addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, handleMouseClick);

and it would work well, but here in Flex 4.5 I don't know how to do this.

Also I've noticed that there is a dropShadowVisible="true" attribute, but not sure if/how it can be used for my purposes.

And I'm not sure if scaling up/down a custom component is allowed in flex or I probably should use "Flex Effects" (but how?) and also set disableLayout="true"?

Either of 2 methods below work for me in Flex 4.5:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:BorderContainer xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" 
xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" 
xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" 
width="160" height="140" 
mouseOut="handleMouseOut(event)"
mouseDown="handleMouseDown(event)"
mouseUp="handleMouseUp(event)"
mouseOver="handleMouseOver(event)"
creationComplete="init(event)">

<fx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
        import mx.events.FlexEvent;

        public function init(event:FlexEvent):void {
                /*
                addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, handleMouseOver);
                addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, handleMouseDown);
                addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, handleMouseUp);
                addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT, handleMouseOut);
                addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, handleMouseClick);
                */
         }

Thank you, Mansuro, I couldn't give you the answer, but I've upvoted yoyur comment.