By News Staff on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 00:00

    The Thorndale Bulldogs are heading to regionals after defeating the Normangee Panthers 62-38 at Franklin High School on Tuesday night.

    The Bulldogs controlled the game from the beginning, leading 33-18 at halftime. Thorndale built their lead in the third quarter to 22, going into the fourth up 49-27. The ‘Dawgs held on to win

    THS was led by Sam Reaves with 19, Kolby Neumeyer with 13 and Michael Herzog with 10 points. Evan Ivy had seven, Ty Kovar had five, and Garrett Bernstein and Chance Betak each had three. Jagger Rubio had two.

    This is their fifth straight appearance at the regional tournament. The Bulldogs will take on Port Aransas at San Marcos High School on Friday with a late start at 8 p.m. The Marlins are 34-6 on the season and went undefeated in District 30-2A and defeated Weimar 46-44 on Tuesday night, a team the Bulldogs lost to 58-52 on Tuesday, Dec. 11. If the Bulldogs win that game, they will play on Saturday at noon against the winner of District 25-2A rival Hearne and San Perlita in the Class 2A Region III Championship. The winner will play at the state tournament the following weekend at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

    AREA CHAMPIONSHIP—This past Friday, the Bulldogs defeated San Antonio-Stacey 62-49 after Sam Reaves was red hot in the first quarter, making four three pointers. Thorndale’s hot streak continued in the second quarter of the game, going into halftime up 35-17 with Reaves having 19 at the intermission.

    “We did a good job of finding Sam and swinging the ball around against their zone defense,” said John Kovar, THS basketball coach.

    Stacey cut the Thorndale lead down to nine halfway through the third quarter, but held on to their lead after Reaves made a long three and stopping Stacey from cutting their deficit even more. THS led 52-39 at the close of the third and maintained their double-digit lead until the end, winning 62-49.

    Reaves ended the game with 32, Neumeyer had 16 and Ivy had six. Jagger Rubio, Garrett Bernstein, Ty Kovar and Michael Herzog each had two points.