The Thorndale Bulldogs ended their season with a 42-40 loss to Port Aransas at the Class 2A Region IIII Semi-finals on Friday at San Marcos High School, missing out on a chance to make it to the UIL Class 2A state championship for the fourth straight year.
“It was a great game,” said John Kovar, Thorn-dale High School head basketball coach. “It was hotly contested all the way until the end.
“Both teams just played their tails off and competed like crazy. That was an incredible game to watch. It wasn’t high scoring or anything like that. But the two teams just battled, battled and battled and fought for four quarters.”
Evan Ivy led with 12 points and Sam Reaves had
11. Both played their final games as members of the Thorndale Bulldogs. Kolby Neumeyer had nine and Michael Herzog had six. Freshmen Chance Betak had two.
It was a close game with both teams tied at 10 at the close of the first quarter. The Marlins went up in the second quarter, leading 18-17 at halftime. The Bulldogs led 26-25 at the close of the third and went back and forth with the coastal crew throughout the final quarter.
Midway through the quarter. Port Aransas made three straight three pointers to take a four-point lead with 2:40 left in the game. Reaves answered back with a three 20 seconds later. Ivy made a layup to give the Bulldogs the lead 40-38 with 1:20 left. The Bulldogs stopped the Marlins from scoring on their next possession, but Port A’s Michael Mendoza stole the ball from Reeves and made a layup to tie the game at 40 with 31 seconds left to play.
The Bulldogs had no luck on the next possession against a tough defense which led to the Marlins getting the ball back with 17 seconds to play.
Port A’s possession came down to the final second when Ryan Powell hit a baseline jumper with .9 seconds remaining on the game clock. Thorndale was unable to get off a mid-court jumper in time, ending their season 42-40.
The Marlins lost in the regional finals on Saturday afternoon 55-37 to Hearne, who the Bulldogs split with in District 25-2A.
Thorndale ends their season with a 27-8 record and an 11-1 record in district. Reaves, Ivy and Garrett Bernstein are three starters the Bulldogs will lose to graduation in addition to role players Nick Gerren, Austin Pauswang and William Terry.
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