Story By Heath Hambrick

Monday afternoon at the DeKalb County Schools Coliseum, the varsity boys' semifinals of this year's Sand Mountain Tournament got underway with the No. 1-seeded Plainview Bears facing off against the No. 5-seeded Geraldine Bulldogs. Plainview defeated Geraldine 66-49 to advance to the Championship Game for the tenth straight year. 

Both teams started slowly and were close in the first half. The Bears led after the first quarter 10-7, and the Bulldogs pulled ahead to take a 28-27 halftime lead. In the second quarter, Geraldine Cooper Johnson scored 13 points to help the Bulldogs take the halftime lead. 

The Bears came out on fire in the second half, going on a 10-0 run in the third quarter to take a 37-28 lead with 3:21 left in the third quarter. Geraldine went almost five minutes without making a basket. Plainview led at the end of the third quarter, 47-36. 

In the final quarter, Plainview built a 20-point lead with five minutes to go in the game. Geraldine was unable to overcome the hot-shooting Bears in the second half. 

Sawyer Wilborn led the Bears with 18 points, Owen Hope scored 15 points, and Grant Nickelson added 13 points. Plainview hit 11 total threes in the game, with seven coming in the second half. 

Cooper Johnson led Geraldine with 20 points. 

Plainview improves to 5-1 as Geraldine falls to 8-5 on the season. 

The Bears advance to take on Section in the championship game, who defeated NSM 63-48 in the other semifinal game.