Bearcats honor seven seniors in season finale loss to Northwest

The 2022-23 basketball season didn’t end the way the Aledo Bearcats would have liked. Following the team’s best performance of the season back on Feb. 3 as they dismantled Azle with an 81-53 rout at home, the Bearcats concluded the season on a four-game losing skid capped off by a 57-53 loss to the Northwest Texans on Tuesday, Feb. 14. Dropping four in a row knocked them down to fifth place in the District 5-5A standings, and left them out of the playoff picture with a 4-8 league record (13-14 overall).

“I’m proud of [the players],” head coach JD Robinson said after the game. “I wish it could’ve gone different. We had so many close games where we were one possession away. A couple defensive stops here, a couple free throws there, a couple missed assignments here and there, and our season’s completely different. I’m going to learn a lot from it. I’ve learned a lot from these guys. I’m just really proud of them.”

Aledo started off the night honoring the seven senior hoopsters along with their families as they took center stage on the court to receive encased jerseys to commemorate their final season in Aledo.

With the playoffs out of reach, the Bearcats’ strategy for the finale seemed to be to play purely for the love of the game and each other. Five seniors — Drew Clock, Exavier Anderson, Ulises Garcia, Brandon Fields, and Brant Tubbs — started the game for Aledo.

Before the game even started, Clock was battling a knee injury during warmups that negatively impacted his mobility. As the game got underway issues with the knee only got worse for the Bearcats’ resident sharpshooter. Only able to play for short periods of time, the injury affected his playing time significantly, limiting him to just five points on the night.

To make matters worse, with the game barely underway fellow-senior guard, Fields took a nasty spill onto the hardwood after being fouled while jockeying for a rebound just 3:41 into the game. Laying face down on the floor, he cried out in agony, causing a hush to fall over the crowd. After several minutes of being looked over by the team trainer he was assisted off the court by two coaches as he hobbled to the training room.

He was unable to return to action in the final game of his high school career.

As for the game itself, the Bearcats were highly competitive, in spite of their top two scorers being sidelined with injuries. Robinson subbed fresh players into the game throughout the contest, which not only kept fresh bodies on the floor, but also gave each varsity player an opportunity to see some quality minutes during the game.

Garcia kicked off the scoring for Aledo right away as he converted the three-point play the hard way as he drew a foul down in the paint putting up a layup just 22 seconds into the game. Clock drove the lane for his first bucket of the night with a layup of his own a minute later.

Fields scored his only basket of the contest at the 4:52 mark when he followed an attempted three-pointer by Clock that banked off the iron. Fields soared through the air over a Texans defender to get the tip-in rebound to give the Bearcats a 7-6 edge through the first three minutes of play.

By the end of the first Northwest had secured a slight lead at 18-14. Scoring slowed for both teams in the second frame as the Texans outpaced the hosting Bearcats 12-7 to extend their lead to nine points heading into the half up 30-21.

Aledo spent the second half clawing their way back into contention. The Bearcats were able to get the score to within a single possession, 55-53, as Garcia knocked down a three pointer from the top of the key with just 10 seconds remaining in the contest. A pair of 1-for-2 trips to the free throw line for Northwest in the waning moments of the game produced the final score.

Looking ahead to the 2023-24 season, Robinson emphasized the work starts now.

“We’re going to see what [the returning players] are made of. We’re going to put them in a ton of games over the spring and the summer. We’ve got to put them in a ton of games just to build some camaraderie and see where this chemistry goes with this next group. There’s a lot of question marks right now. But we’ve got good kids. We’ve got good kids, because we’ve got good parents here. They’re going to step up and they’re going to get better.”

Bearcats vs. Northwest – Feb. 14

Varsity

Aledo scoring: Exavier Anderson 11, Ulises Garcia 10, Brant Tubbs 9, Jack Sawyer 6, Drew Clock 5, Nevishan Warnesuriye 3, Luke Slabbekoorn 3, D’Leon Starnes 2, Brandon Fields 2, Owen Peterson 2.