Bearcats bow out to No. 5 Birdville in bi-district

The Aledo Bearcats marched into the postseason Tuesday night at Argyle High School after putting together a strong pre-district slate and a perfect run through district. The Bearcats’ first-round opponents, though, were no pushovers as the defending Class 5A Division I state runners up. Aledo contended for the bi-district crown with the No. 5 Birdville Hawks, and the game remained close deep into the second half, but Birdville ultimately pulled away late for a 57-41 victory.

The Bearcats never led in the contest but stayed within striking distance early and often. Birdville got out to a 14-5 start in the opening frame, but senior forward Townes Van Huysen got the Bearcats going with three straight buckets, as his baseline jumper with 41 seconds left drew Aledo to within 17-11. After a Birdville bucket, senior guard Enrique Pacheco ignited his team with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, bringing the deficit to 19-14 at the end of the quarter.

Aledo continued to hang tough with the Hawks in the second quarter. A 3-pointer and a lefty layup by Pacheco closed the gap to 23-19 at the 5:02 mark and he drew a charge with 3:43 to go facing the same deficit. After that, sophomore Grayson Isbell split a pair of free throws to trim Birdville’s lead to 23-20 with 3:04 before halftime. Pacheco, who carried a heavy workload with 15 first-half points, hit a floater with 16 seconds left to keep Aledo close, trailing 26-22 at halftime.

Birdville opened the third quarter strong on a 6-0 surge that pushed its lead to double digits, but Pacheco found junior sharpshooter Caden Cunningham at the top of the key and he drilled a 3-pointer with 5:25 left to pull Aledo to within 32-25. Aledo head coach Andrew Baker called a timeout to allow the team to reestablish itself with a single-digit deficit, but Birdville came out of the timeout with back-to-back triples that pushed its advantage to 38-25. Cunningham scored five of Aledo’s seven points in the closing minutes to trim the deficit to 45-33 entering the fourth quarter while Birdville managed four triples in the third quarter.

Birdville held a 10- to 12-point advantage through the first half of the fourth quarter, but a dunk by Van Huysen with 4:23 left and a 3-pointer from Cooper Hull with 3:35 to go slashed the deficit to 48-41. Despite that, Birdville recaptured its double-digit lead on the next possession – a 3-pointer with 3:16 left – that ended up as the start of a 9-0 run for Birdville to close the bi-district contest.

Pacheco led Aledo with 18 points, Cunningham and Van Huysen finished with nine and eight points, respectively, and Hull tossed in five points.

The Bearcats (26-7, 12-0) had their season conclude after completing their second consecutive district-championship season – their first two in program history. Aledo will graduate six seniors from the team: Pacheco, Van Huysen, Crew Bates, Carter Kinchen, Ryan Lotter and Dylan Pipkins.