Bearcats fall to Arlington, Boswell at Moritz Dealerships Holiday Classic

Playing on the second and final day of their home tournament, the Moritz Dealerships Holiday Classic, the Aledo Bearcats fell to Arlington High School and Boswell to conclude tournament play.

Princeton is the tournament champion after a 51-48 victory over Keller in the title game.

The pair of losses drops the 'Cats to 6-17 overall. Aledo will continue non-district play at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4 at Sherman.

Despite going 1-3 at the tournament, Bearcats head coach Fred Jones saw overall team improvement.

"What I liked about the four games we played was that the guys played hard from start to finish in all of the games," Jones said. "The guys were highly coachable and they responded well to a lot of guys being moved around to different spots.

"We had spots to where we played well - probably about two or three quarters every game - but what I didn't like was (in the last three games) was we didn't play a full 32 (minutes). But we walk away from this tournament knowing we can compete, and now we focus on going back to work to learn how to play that extra eight minutes.

"We have some new moving parts (additions of players from football), and I like what I see. The guys are excited about that, and we (coaching staff) are excited."

Boswell 59, Bearcats 47

Boswell overcame an 11-0 deficit in the first quarter with a 25-point second period on its way to a 12-point win over the Bearcats.

Cole Nitsch led Aledo with 17 points, and Truen Johnson recorded a double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Also scoring for the Bearcats were Tre Owens with seven points, JW Comiskey with five, Max Newell with four, Austin Hawkins with three and Daniel Sohn with one.

Aledo led 14-6 after the first quarter before Boswell outscored the Bearcats 25-12 in the second period to take a 31-26 lead at the half. Boswell scored 17 points in the third quarter while holding the Bearcats to seven as the Pioneers took a 48-33 lead into the fourth period.

Arlington 62, Bearcats 54

Aledo pulled to within 57-52 with 44 seconds left to play but could not get closer as Arlington High School held on for the win.

Leading scorers for the Bearcats were Johnson with 20 points and Owens with 10.

Aledo led 13-11 after the first quarter but the Colts came back in the second period to take a 30-27 lead at the break. Arlington scored 18 points in the third period to take a 48-36 lead into the fourth quarter.