No. 1 Step

HEARNE—Tuesday night’s runaway victory over Normangee was simply a means to an end for the Thorndale Bulldogs.

The No. 1 ranked Bulldogs took the first step in their quest to return to the state tournament for the third consecutive season by sprinting past Normangee, 69-41, Tuesday evening.

Thorndale (27-5) will now face familiar foe Flatonia (19-11) in the area round at 6:30 Friday in Giddings.

Flatonia sacked San Saba 75-49 in the bi-district round Monday.

Thorndale has handled Flatonia in the past two seasons in the area round, 66-56 last season and 56-47 in 2016.

Flatonia, guided by former Mumford coach Chris Sodek, was the runnerup in District 28-2A to Yorktown.

Flatonia is led by sophomore guard Kannin Mikulik who averages 19.2 points a game and has drilled 108 threes. He also has recorded 110 steals.

A young squad, Flatonia features nine sophomores and freshmen on the roster.

Tuesday night, a game Normangee squad was not intimidated by Thorndale’s state tournament pedigree or No. 1 ranking and came out firing.

Normangee guards Luke Yellott and Cameron Ran-ton combined for all 18 points in the first quarter and the Panthers shocked most everyone in the gymnasium and grabbed a 18-12 lead by the end of the period.

It didn’t hurt that Thorn-dale turned the ball over an uncharacteristic seven times.

Sparked by leading scorer Sam Reaves, a shell-shocked Thorndale snapped-to in the second quarter and snatched the lead for good.

Reaves broke loose for nine straight points to open the period and by the time he was through, the Bulldogs were up 23-20 with 4 minutes, 35 seconds left in the half.

An impressive baseline dunk from 6-foot-6 point guard Ty Prince and another three-point play from Reaves and Thorndale had wrestled the lead away from Normangee, 33-27, by intermission.

The 6-foot-5 Reaves, who averages 21.2 points a game, had 12 of his 17 points in the second quarter.

Thorndale turned up the heat in the third quarter, outscoring a winded Normangee 27-6 and rained in fi ve three-pointers—two each from Prince and Mason Fisher.

The Bulldogs had constructed a 60-33 lead by the end of the quarter as the Panthers went four minutes without scoring as Thorndale embarked on a 17-0 run and were 11-of-12 from the floor in the quarter.

Thorndale was seven-of-11 from behind the arc on the evening.

Prince also posted 17 points, matching his average on the season.

Mason Fisher and Logan Fisher were also in double figures with 13 and 11 points respectively.

“I was hoping for four good quarters but we played about 2 1/2,” said Thorndale Coach John Kovar. “We thought we could wear them down and we eventually did, they were tired in the second half. We were rotating around at first, but in the second half we just went back to good old man-to-man.

“In the second half we just tried to do what we do best.”

Normangee, fourth in District 26-2A, finishes the season 19-15.