Last Tuesday, Thorndale basketball had the task of taking on top-ranked Big Sandy in the Region IV quarterfinals, a team that many high school basketball fans around Texas thought would be playing for a state championship later this month.
However, Big Sandy’s trip to the Alamodome never came to fruition and their season ended at Madisonville High School, as the Bulldogs overcame a double- digit deficit in third quarter to win 48-44. In a game that senior Blake Roberts led the ’Dawgs with 20 points, the victory meant Thorndale was returning to regionals for the first time since the 2018-2019 season and had a chance to make a trip back to state for the first time since their 2017-2018 campaign.
Their journey at the regional tourney began Friday, when THS played at Buda’s Johnson High School against Stockdale, a South Texas squad that went undefeated through their District 30-2A schedule and was coming out of a 49-42 quarterfinal win over Mason three days before.
their dominance with multiple three-pointers from junior Kaden Kovar while Clason Beasley and Braden Pickel were strong in the paint. By halftime, they led 38-20 in large part to a 15-5 run in the second quarter. THS success continued in the game’s final half as they played with a slower pace in order to help maintain their lead and punch their ticket to the regional finals. Thorndale ended up winning their matchup over Stockdale by a score of 60-49. Kovar led the team with 25 points and seven three-pointers, while Blake Roberts had 15 and Beasley put up 12.
In order to get to state, Thorndale had to get past 33-4 Flatonia, a team with a strong senior class that edged out perennial power Port Aransas 46-43 earlier on Friday.
When they faced the following afternoon, it was FHS that was hot from the beginning. Flatonia, whose mascot is also the Bulldogs, established dominance early with post play from Jaidyn Guyton and while their guards hit multiple shots as Thorndale had trouble from beyond the arc. The other Bulldogs went into halftime leading, 26-14.
THS continued to struggle chipping away at Flatonia’s lead in the second half, but the Fayette County school ultimately won, 65-54. Beasley led the way with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Roberts scored 11 in his high school finale and Kovar had nine.
Despite the disappointing outcome, Thorndale’s head coach Michael Williams was pleased with how his team’s growth throughout the season.
“One of the things I was worried about was how we would handle it when things didn’t go our way and they got better and better as the year went on,” Williams said. “When things got hard, they just buckled up and went with it instead of folding. I’m really proud of them for that.”
“They all came into their own, learned their roles and did what they had to do in order to give themselves the best chance to be successful,” he added.
In his third year at Thorndale, this was the first time Williams brought the Bulldogs past the opening round of the post-season. He described this year’s run as re-vitalizing Thorndale basketball’s rich winning tradition.
“I think the guys before them set a pretty high standard,” Williams said. “Thorndale’s got some tradition, they were out of it for awhile and these guys kind of revamped the tradition.”
The Bulldogs end their season with an overall record of 26-9 and a second place finish in District 27-2A.
Roberts was named the district’s Offensive Player of the Year and averaged 17.4 points per game with 4.8 rebounds per game and a 31.3% shooting percentage from behind the three-point line. Other notable all-district selections were Clason Beasley and Kaden Kovar, who were both unanimous picks for the first team.
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