Flatonia’s Season Ends In Third Round of the Basketball Playoffs

GIDDINGS – This year the Flatonia boys had one of their best basketball teams ever.

Tuesday Milano was just a little better.

In front of a capacity crowd Tuesday in Giddings, Flatonia (34-5) saw its season come to an end in a 53-49 loss to Milano in a 2A regional quarterfinals.

“It was a good run, but it wasn’t as far as we wanted it to be,” said Flatonia head coach Chris Sodek, whose team had a 16-game win streak snapped Tuesday.

“Our length gave them trouble,” said Milano head coach Lee Essman Jr, a former La Grange assistant coach in 2016- 2018. “We almost gave it away at the end. We had a good lead but they chipped away. They are a good team, they get after you.”

Milano advances to the Sweet 16 round, Friday in San Marcos. The Eagles (21-14) had a height advantage over the Bulldogs but early on it was their outside shooting that fueled them. Milano made eight of nine three pointers in the first half.

Sophomore Duke Sodek kept the Bulldogs in the game with four first half three-pointers of his own

“To be down by only six at halftime we were feeling pretty good,” Chris Sodek said.

“They hit their shots, they worked the ball around they handled the pressure,” said Flatonia’s Dayton Cliffe. “They were tall and lanky, it was hard to get to the basket.”

Milano led by as many as 14 in the second half and was still clinging to a 10-point lead with four minutes left in the game.

But Flatonia wasn’t done.

The Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run capped by a Cliffe threepointer with 1:36 left that cut the Milano lead to 49-47.

Two free throws by Alex Hernandez again pulled Flatonia within two points at 51-49 with 44 seconds left.

But a questionable foul call on the Bulldogs (on what could have been a held ball call that would have given Flatonia the ball back) with 13 seconds left sent Milano to the line where Layne Telg made two free throws to make the final margin 53-49.

A miss by the Bulldogs sealed the win for Milano.

It also ended the basketball careers of four Flatonia seniors – Justin Marler, Angel Netro, Aidan Kloesel, and Alex Hernandez.

“We had an amazing season and the boys that are coming back next year are going to do great,” Hernandez said.

Flatonia was led in scoring Friday by junior Jaidyn Guyton, who had 14. Sodek had 12 and junior Keyshaun Green scored eight.

“We were able to go a round farther than when they were sophomores and freshmen, next year they’ll be a year older and hopefully it pays off for us,” said Chris Sodek, a Fayetteville native who went to three state tournaments as a coach at Mumford before coming to Flatonia.

“I was fortunate to go three times in a row (to state) – 2012, 2013, 2014 – you realize how hard it is to get there and makes you appreciate those times even more,” Chris Sodek said. “I’d like to think we’ll have a good shot next year but you never know.”

3/1/22

Milano boys 53, Flatonia 49

Flatonia 13 16 6 14 – 49

Milano 20 15 10 8 – 53

Flatonia scoring: Green 8, Sodek 12, Cliffe 6, Targac 3, Netro 1, Guyton 14, Hernandez 3.