Bulldogs headed to Class 2A Region IV Tournament
The No. 11 Thorndale Bulldogs The No. 11 Thorn-dale Bulldogs (27-7) are headed to the Class 2A Region IV tournament for the fifth straight season after a 62-38 blowout win over region quarterfinal opponent Normangee on Tuesday night in Franklin. The Bulldogs will face off against No. 6 Port Aransas on Friday at San Marcos High School in the 8 p.m. semifinal. Port Aransas, winner of District 30-2A, defeated No. 25 Weimar 46-44 to advance to the regional tourney. Thorn-dale is the top seed out of 25-2A The other region semifinal will see No. 7 San Perlita play No. 10 Hearne at 6 p.m. San Perlita won 32-2A and Hearne was the co-champions with Thorndale in 25-2A. Hearne defeated Snook 70-69 on a half-court shot at the final buzzer in its regional quarterfinal contest. San Perlita defeated Flatonia 70-65 in their third round playoff game. The two semifinal winners will play at noon on Saturday, with the regional champion earning a trip to the UIL State Basketball Championships at the Alamodome in San Antonio. In the Bulldogs win over Normangee, winner of 26-2A, the first quarter saw the two teams trade shots with Thorn-dale up 18-12 at the end of the period. Sam Reaves led all scorers with 19 points, 13 of them in the first quarter. The Bulldogs kept pushing the pace of the game and led 33-18 by halftime. Thorndale outscored the Panthers 28-20 in the final two quarters. Kolby Neumeyer and Michael Herzog both put up double digits, with 13 and 10 respectively. Eleven of Neumeyer’s points were in the third quarter. Evan Ivy recorded seven points and Ty Kovar put up five points. Garrett Bernstein and Chance Betak collected three points each, while Jagger Rubio contributed two points. Thorndale defeated San Antonio Stacey 62-49 on Friday at Lockhart in the area round of the playoffs, advancing them to the matchup with Normangee. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 21-11 lead in the first quarter and extended that to a 35-17 advantage by halftime. Stacey came back from the break to outscore Thorndale 22-17 in the third quarter. However, the Bulldogs still took a 52-39 lead into the final quarter. Both teams put up 10 points in the final frame, leading to Thorndale to the 62-49 win. Reaves led all scorers with 32 points on the night. He was joined in double figures by Neumeyer with 16 points. Ivy put up six points, with Herzog, Bernstein, Kovar and Rubio recording two points apiece. Stacey was the runner up from District 28-2A.