Bearcats take second place in Aledo Tournament

Aledo’s varsity Bearcat hoops team added another piece of hardware to the trophy case over the weekend following a second-place finish in the Aledo Moritz Classic Tournament.

The Bearcats (8-5) earned wins over Coronado and Canutillo in the first and second rounds of bracket play. Unfortunately, Aledo came up short in the championship game against a stalwart squad from Richland, who took home top honors.

“Overall, I feel really good,” Bearcats head coach JD Robinson said after the championship game. “We took some good steps.”

Richland entered the championship game with a lone blemish on their 2022-23 season record, but had reeled off five straight wins since their Nov. 29 loss to Midlothian.

The Royals wasted no time getting their offense underway as Richland’s Mark Rucha led the charge, accounting for 12 of his team’s 24 first-quarter points. 

At the Bearcats’ end of the floor, the home team struggled to cope with the defense of Richland. The Royals held Aledo to less than 25 points in the first half of action, which was a first in the tournament for the hosting Bearcats.

Richland’s athleticism allowed them to put tremendous pressure on the Bearcats resulting in numerous turnovers. Those turnovers frequently resulted in two-on-one scoring opportunities on their end of the floor, allowing the Royals to outpace Aledo throughout the contest.

Robinson commended the Royals during a post-game interview saying, “We can’t really simulate what we get from Richland. They’re a dang good basketball team. They’ve been beaten one time this year. We knew what we were going to get from them, and we can’t simulate that.”

Aledo continued to play aggressively at both ends of the floor throughout the contest in an effort to force the Royals to make mistakes and capitalize on the shift in momentum. To Richland’s credit, they continued to take care of the basketball, never allowing the Bearcats to get back into the game.

“Our goal is to get better every game and every possession,” Robinson stated. “We took some steps today, but I think we got hit in the mouth. Now it’s a matter of if we respond or not.”

With his squad preparing to enter district play on Dec. 20, Robinson is optimistic about where his team goes from here.

“We got better this week,” he said. “Bottom line, regardless of the outcome of this game, we’ve gotten better. That’s our goal every day. Our guys work hard. They’re resilient. They’re going to come back to work. We want to be playing our best ball as we approach Christmas break, but we can get a lot better.”

Aledo started off the tournament with a hard-fought 57-51 win over Coronado in overtime. The game started off tight with both teams posting a dozen points in the first quarter of action. The Bearcats took over between the bookends, posting a 17-point second quarter to head into the break leading 29-21. The home team added 11 more points in the third stanza to take a 40-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Coronado’s offense rose from the ashes like a phoenix in the fourth as the Thunderbirds’ offense put up 22 to knot the game at 49 all at the end of regulation.

As free basketball started, the Bearcats defense clipped the Thunderbirds’ wings in overtime as Coronado scored a single bucket in crunch time. Aledo added eight points as they advanced in the winner’s bracket.

In the second round of the tournament Aledo came away victorious after a highly competitive game against the Canutillo Eagles. The Bearcats took the early advantage in the contest. Though it was close throughout, the Bearcats prevailed 49-40 to secure their place in the championship game.

Moritz Classic

First round

Aledo scoring: Brandon Fields 19, Jack Sawyer 12, Drew Clock 11, Exavier Anderson 11, Brant Tubbs 2, Ulises Garcia 2

Semifinals

Drew Clock 18, Brandon Fields 16, Jack Sawyer 8, Exavier Anderson 5, Brant Tubbs 2

Championship

Drew Clock 18, Brandon Fields 11, Jack Sawyer 4, Brant Tubbs 3, Jackson Todd 2, Owen Peterson 2, Zayden Parker 2