Late run sparks Birdville boys over Aledo in basketball bi-district playoff game
The Aledo boys basketball team had just pulled to within six points of Birdville with 5:13 left in the game.
But Birdville’s Chase Henderson recorded back-to-back steals and lay ins that sparked a 9-0 run for the Hawks who pulled away for a 53-42 win over the Bearcats Saturday afternoon in a Class 5A bi-district game at Richland High School.
“I knew that they were getting a guy to the elbow as a high post and I know that they weren’t looking for me to come up,” said Henderson, who led the Hawks with 23 points and seven steals. “So when they threw it I was thinking in my mind that I would jump it.”
“That was just a huge momentum switch right there,” added J.D. Robinson, in his first-year as head coach at Aledo. “Any turnovers like that late in the game are really going to hurt you.”
Birdville (19-9) advances to the area round to face 5A No. 5 Mansfield Timberview (20-3) at a time and site to be determined. Timberview throttled Fort Worth Arlington Heights 90-31 on Saturday.
The Hawks pulled out to an early 6-0 lead while Aledo (20-6) tried to settle in against Birdville’s swarming zone defense. But the Bearcats rallied and took a 7-6 lead when Exavier Anderson put back a missed three with 3:27 left in the first quarter.
The lead changed hands six times from that point before Birdville went on an 11-0 run starting at the 6:21 mark of the second quarter. Two three pointers by Henderson, a three by Daniel Sykes and a lay in by Matthew Zakaria off a crisp assist by Sykes gave the Hawks a 25-15 lead with 3:40 left before the intermission.
Sykes, the Hawks’ floor general who pitched in six points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals, helped keep the Birdville lead between six and 10 points until midway through the third quarter.
A Clark Crawford basket capped an 8-2 run for Aledo to pull to within 31-29.
But a Henderson steal and lay in that resulted in a three-point play put Birdville back up by five with 1:42 left in the third quarter and the Bearcats would never get any closer the rest of the way.
“They’re both juniors and they’ve both started on the varsity since they were freshmen,” said Birdville coach Jeff Fitch on Henderson and Sykes, his dynamic duo. “They’ve both already scored over 1,000 points for their careers. They’re good players and it’s exciting to get to have them.”
Fitch also praised Ocie Berry, Hayes Heitz and Matthew Zakaria, for the work they did on the inside. Zakaria and Heitz added eight points each for Birdville.
Aledo’s Daniel Sohn was everywhere for the Bearcats, leading Aledo with 14 points and 17 rebounds. Landry Simmons, one of two seniors on the squad, and Anderson had nine points each for Aledo.
“It was a good run for us just building a program,” said Robinson, whose team has lost in the first round the past two seasons.. “Twenty wins is always a good year, especially with all of the crazy this year, so we were fortunate to get to play a lot of games. We have a bunch of young guys and we had some success, but we just have to get over that hump.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 9:49 PM.