Guntersville boys basketball survives Sardis, advances to AHSAA Elite Eight

JACKSONVILLE — It was mostly a back-and-forth affair between Sardis boys basketball and Guntersville but the Wildcats were able to gut out an AHSAA regional win on Thursday.

Guntersville ran out to an early lead in the second quarter, leading by as many as 10 before Sardis stormed to trail by one at the half. The Lions came out of the half and took the lead on a tough and-one opportunity by Eli Morton and from there the two teams traded the lead for the rest of the quarter. Guntersville pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 69-63 win as its experience in Jacksonville started to show later in the game.

The Wildcats will play the winner of Scottsboro and Leeds at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in Jacksonville. The winner of that matchup will advance to Legacy Arena in Birmingham for the Final Four.

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Sardis's Luke Martin lead the way with 29 points and Eli Morton had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Guntersville was lead by Jackson Porch with 24 points and Treyvon Avery with 13.

It was Sardis's first appearance in a regional since 2007.

Maxwell Donaldson covers high school sports and Jacksonville State athletics for the Gadsden Times. Find him on Twitter/X @_Max_Donaldson and contact him atMDonaldson@gannett.com.