The District 5-5A matchup on Tuesday, Jan. 30, between the Aledo Bearcats and Brewer ended up being the game of almosts. Leading by 11 points heading into the fourth quarter, the Bearcats almost pulled out an improbable win over a district-leading Brewer club they’ve not beaten in several seasons.
The Bearcats recently upset Saginaw, second in district. Aledo (15-11, 4-4 in district) remains in the hunt for a playoff berth despite the loss, sitting fourth in the league.
For the Bears, it was almost a game that would be remembered for their perseverance as they pulled off a fourth quarter comeback to win 51-45.
Instead will be overshadowed by their post-game antics.
After pulling off a 23-point fourth quarter to come from behind for the win, Brewer’s postgame celebration quickly took a turn into chaos. The Bears coaching staff lost control of their players, as a number of them began shouting at the Aledo fans in attendance. Several Brewer students ran across the court from the visiting stands to join in the raucous display around the Brewer bench.
Aledo faculty, including the school resource officer, attempted to help Brewer’s coaching staff regain control over the players, usher them towards the locker room, and clear out the gymnasium. The game announcer attempted to direct the players to the locker room, as well, over the sound system to no avail. Threats of filing a report with the UIL if players did not move to the locker room fell on deaf ears.
Once the players began to move towards the locker rooms, a handful of Brewer players took water bottles and mimicked urinating on the Aledo logo at midcourt.
As for the game itself, the Bearcats put forth their best performance against the Bears in recent memory. Historically, games between the two teams have been tight with Brewer leading for most of the game.
In their previous two meetings this season, Brewer has dominated. When the two teams met in the Moritz Classic back in December, the Bears took home the first-place trophy with an 11-point win. The first district matchup at Brewer back on January 5, the Bears decimated Aledo, winning by 19.
After coming off an upset victory over Saginaw the week before, Aledo showed up on Tuesday with a chip on their shoulder. Determined to prevail on their home court, the Bearcat defense set the tone for the home team.
Typical of their history against each other, Brewer managed to take an early 12-9 lead in the first quarter. But, in the second quarter Aledo’s defense found its rhythm.
Aledo head coach JD Robinson stresses to his defense the importance of keeping their eye on man or ball. On Tuesday night the Bearcat defense did a spectacular job of that. Against a talented, athletic offense, the Bearcats managed to stay in front of the Bears, cover their gaps, and stay between the ball and the basket.
Aledo denied the Bears free looks at the basket all night, especially in high-percentage areas in the post. Even when Brewer worked their way down low near the goal, shots were heavily contested keeping scoring at a premium.
As the Bearcat defense frustrated the Bears at one end of the floor, it also gave Aledo confidence at the other end of the floor. The Bearcats appeared relaxed as their offense flowed without the pressure of having to go shot-for-shot.
Early in the second quarter Jack Sawyer gave the Bearcats their first lead of the game, 13-11, with a short jumper in the paint. A seesaw battle ensued as the two teams traded opportunities retaking the lead until the 5:03 mark when Sawyer gathered a rebound and scored on a second-chance opportunity to make it 15-14.
From there the Bearcats began to put distance between themselves and Brewer. Sawyer once again scored down in the post to give Aledo a seven-point lead with time running out in the first half, but the Bears sank a mid-court shot at the buzzer to make it a 25-21 affair at the break.
Coming out of the break, Aledo picked up right where they left off. Joaquin Pacheco drowned a three-pointer to open the third quarter to put the Bearcats up 28-21. On their next possession, Jackson Todd knocked down a jumper from the free-throw line to extend the Aledo lead out to nine points, forcing the Bears to take a timeout.
Aledo’s guards became heavily invested in the scoring in the third quarter, as Pacheco, Todd, and Owen Peterson combined for 10 of the Bearcats 14 third-quarter points. By the time the buzzer sounded to close the frame, the Bearcats held an 11-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter, 39-28.
There’s a scene in the 2000 movie, The Replacements, where quarterback Shane Falco, played by Keanu Reeves talks about his fear of quicksand. Falco explains the quicksand he’s referring to is not literal, but an illustration of when something goes wrong in a game, then another, and another until seemingly everything that could go wrong eventually does.
The Bearcats fell into quicksand in the fourth quarter.
Out of desperation, Brewer switched up their defensive strategy to press the home team. The pressure quickly led to a pair of turnovers with fastbreak scoring opportunities. Fouls by the Bearcats on those fastbreaks sent the Bears to the free-throw line where they were perfect from the stripe in the fourth quarter.
Less than two minutes into the quarter, Aledo’s 11-point lead vanished as Robinson was forced to call a timeout with 6:06 remaining and his team up by just a single bucket, 39-37.
Following the timeout, both clubs fell into a scoring drought for several minutes. That changed Julian Perez finished off a fastbreak opportunity with a layup to tie the game at 39-all with 4:15 left to go. From there, the Bears went on a 12-6 run to close out the final four minutes of action, earning the victory in dramatic fashion.
“We just collapsed,” Robinson said after the game. “We turned the ball over too much. We weren’t physical enough, or mentally tough enough there at the end. We needed to keep the ball in the middle of the floor, and we didn’t do that.”
With just four district matchups left on the regular season schedule, Aledo will be back in action on Friday as they travel to Azle to take on the Hornets at 7:30 p.m.
“We’re in the hunt for the playoff race,” stated Robinson. “We control our own destiny in that regard. We go to Azle on Friday night. They’re going to want to win a district game, so we’ve got to go in there and take care of Azle. That’s the only thing on our minds right now.”
Bearcats vs. Brewer – Jan. 30
Aledo 9 16 14 6 - 45
Brewer 12 9 7 23 - 51
Aledo scoring: Jack Sawyer 22, Joaquin Pacheco 13, Jackson Todd 7, Owen Peterson 2, Cohen Christie 1.
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