Schulenburg Beats Flatonia, Stays Atop District Standings
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Schulenburg’s Van Prihoda blocks a Flatonia shot in Friday’s game. Photo by Jeff Wick -
Flatonia’s Jaylon Anderson goes to the basket against the defense of Schulenburg’s Jayse Janda. Photo by Jeff Wick
The Schulenburg boys basketball team is officially on fire.
The Shorthorns won their seventh district game in a row in a thrilling battle on the road over in-county rival Flatonia Friday 57-45.
The victory improves the Schulenburg boys to 22-9 overall and 10-1 in district.
A win Tuesday in the regular season finale over Louise (a team the Horns beat by 60 just a month ago) is all that stands between Schulenburg and a share of the 28-2A district title.
“We’ve got four seniors so we’ve been together a while,” said Schulenburg head coach Richard Hoogendoorn. “We’ve been in games like this all year and most of the time we’ve found a way to win.”
The victory was career win No. 896 for Hoogendoorn, who is one of the winningest coaches in the nation and in his 26th season leading the Shorthorns.
His said his team this year is very balanced and could make a good postseason run, meaning that 900 career win mark could be in sight for Hoogendoorn.
The Shorthorns led by just two at halftime over Flatonia but got some breathing room with a big fourth quarter.
Tavondrick Ellison was a big force for Schulenburg on the boards and also led the team in scoring with 17. Denver Carr scored 15. Van Prihoda had 11, with nine of those points coming in the pivotal fourth quarter. Caden Herzik and Vic Mandujano each scored six and Jayse Janda scored two.
For Flatonia, Jaylon Anderson led the way with 18 points, despite being plagued by foul trouble in the second half. Abe Saavedra scored 11, Diego Ramirez, Nate Aguillon and Zayden Perez all scored five, and Adrian Anderson scored one.
Despite the loss, Flatonia still is in a good position.
The Bulldogs (10-16 overall and 6-5 in district) head into Monday’s regular season finale at Bloomington having already clinched a playoff spot.
“I thought both teams played their hearts out tonight,” said Flatonia head coach Lance Giese. “We’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the ball and get better shots ... We started out slow this season but we’ve been getting better and better. I’m proud of our guys.”