Bulldogs headed back to Region IV Tournament

The No. 1 Thorndale Bulldogs (31-3) are back in the Class 2A Region IV tournament after defeating No. 15 Snook 58-46 in the regional quarterfinals on Tuesday night at Hearne High School.

The Bulldogs, champions of District 25-2A, will play No. 14 Port Aransas at 8 p.m. Friday at Canyon High School in New Braunfels in the second of two region semifinals game.  The first game will tip off at 6 p.m. and see Thorndale’s district foe Mumford play San Antonio Stacey.

The two winners will play at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Class 2A Region IV championship game and a berth in the UIL state tournament.

Port Aransas, winner of 30-2A, defeated No. 19 San Antonio Lee Academy 71-57 to earn a trip to the regional tournament.

Mumford, third place in 25-2A, defeated Yorktown 60-37 in its third round game and San Antonio Stacey, third place in 29-2A, won 77-61 over San Perlita in its regional quarterfinal match.

In Tuesday night’s game, Snook jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the first frame of Tuesday’s contest, going on a 7-0 run to end the quarter.

Thorndale capitalized on the Bluejays’ foul trouble late in the second quarter of the very physical contest, outscoring Snook 23-11 in that frame and went up 28-23 by halftime.

The Bulldogs went on a 12-2 run to open up the third quarter to go up 45-28 on a gassed Snook team.

The Bluejays, winners of 26-2A, tried a rally, outscoring Thorndale 16-13 in the fourth quarter, but came up short.

Ashton Albert led all Bulldog scorers with 12 points on the night, joined in double figures by Ty Prince with 11 points and Sam Reaves and Logan Fisher with 10 each.

Mason Fisher put up six points, with Scott Guzman and Ashton Schaefer adding four each and Jesus Hernandez scoring one.

The Bulldogs defeated Flatonia 64-39 in the area round match on Friday at Giddings High School.

Thorndale jumped out to an early 20-4 lead after the first quarter and led 36-12 by halftime.

 Flatonia (19-12), 28-2A runner-up, outscored Thorndale 18-16 in the third quarter, but it was not enough.

Ty Prince and Sam Reaves put up 16 points apiece and Ashton Albert scored 15.  Mason Fisher added nine points, with Logan Fisher scoring six and Ashton Schaefer two.

Flatonia was led by sophomore Kannin Mikulik with 17 points.

Thorndale has won 17 games in a row, with its last loss coming on Dec. 28 to Lipan in the Tenaha tournament.

The Bulldogs have been ranked No. 1 in the statewide Class 2A poll for nine straight weeks.