Event starts at Ider, moves to DeKalb County Schools Coliseum for semifinals/finals
Story By Jason Bowen
One of the state’s longest running basketball tournaments is set to write another chapter in its storied history.
The 73rd annual Sand Mountain Tournament is scheduled for Dec. 18-23. The event features the three Jackson County (North Sand Mountain, Pisgah, Section) and six DeKalb County schools that are located on Sand Mountain.
Ider High School is the host school for the 2025 Sand Mountain Tournament. Games the first three days (Dec. 18-20)will be played at Ider before shifting to the approximately 2,000 seat DeKalb County Schools Coliseum in Rainsville for the semifinal and championship games Dec. 22-23.
This marks the second season the SMT will operate with a ladder-style bracket.
The top-two seeds in the varsity girls and boys brackets receive byes to the semifinal round, while the teams seeded third and fourth receive byes to the quarterfinal round. Teams seeded fifth, sixth and seventh will play in second-round games with the eighth and ninth seeds playing a first-round play-in game to see who advances to face the fifth-seed in the second round.
The varsity girls bracket features three teams currently ranked No. 1 in their respective classification (Class 1A Ider, 2A Pisgah and 4A Plainview) in the Alabama Sportswriters Association Rankings and five ranked teams (2A No. 4 NSM and 3A No. 7 Sylvania) in all. The varsity boys bracket includes two ASWA No. 1-ranked teams and five ranked teams.
The varsity boys field also features includes teams ranked in the ASWA with 2A No. 1 Section, 2A No. 2 Pisgah, 2A No. 3 NSM, 3A No. 9 Fyffe and 4A No. 2 Plainview.
The seeding for the varsity boys division has ninth-time defending champion Plainview as the No. 1 seed, followed by second-seeded Section, third-seeded North Sand Mountain, fourth-seeded Pisgah, fifth-seeded Geraldine, sixth-seeded Fyffe, seventh-seeded Sylvania, eighth-seeded Crossville and ninth-seeded Ider.
Meanwhile, Ider is the top-seed in the varsity girls bracket while three-time defending champion Plainview is the No. 2-seed, followed by third-seed Pisgah, fourth-seeded NSM, fifth-seeded Section, sixth-seeded Sylvania, seventh-seeded Fyffe, eighth-seeded Geraldine and ninth-seeded Crossville.
Here is the varsity schedule for the 2025 Sand Mountain Tournament:
Thursday (Dec. 18) at Ider High School
› Varsity Girls
Geraldine vs. Crossville, 5 p.m.
› Varsity Boys
Crossville vs. Ider, 6:30 p.m.
Friday (Dec. 19) at Ider High School
› Varsity Girls
Sylvania vs. Fyffe, 3:30 p.m.
Section vs. Geraldine/Crossville winner, 6:30 p.m.
› Varsity Boys
Fyffe vs. Sylvania, 5 p.m.
Geraldine vs. Crossville/Ider winner, 8 p.m.
Saturday (Dec. 20) at Ider High School
› Varsity Girls
Pisgah vs. Sylvania/Fyffe winner, 1 p.m.
NSM vs. Section/Geraldine/Crossville winner, 4 p.m.
› Varsity Boys
NSM vs. Fyffe/Sylvania winner, 2:30 p.m.
Pisgah vs. Geraldine/Crossville/Ider winner, 5:30 p.m.
Monday (Dec. 22) at DeKalb County Schools Coliseum, Rainsville
› Varsity Girls
Ider vs. NSM/Section/Geraldine/Crossville winner, 3 p.m.
Plainview vs. Pisgah/Sylvania/Fyffe winner, 6 p.m.
› Varsity Boys
Plainview vs. Pisgah/Geraldine/Crossville/Ider winner, 4:30 p.m.
Section vs. NSM/Fyffe/Sylvania winner, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday (Dec. 23) at DeKalb County Schools Coliseum, Rainsville
› JV Boys Championship, 4 p.m.
› Varsity Girls Championship, 5:15 p.m.
› Varsity Boys Championship,
7 p.m.
