By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

WIGGINS — The Gautier boy’s basketball team will move up a classification from Class 5A to Class 6A beginning next season.
So, Tuesday night, the Gators decided to give the Class 5A South State playoffs one more try before moving on up.
Gautier completed a three game season sweep over East Central with a 65-44 decision here at Stone High during opening day play at the Region 4-5A Tournament. The win moves the Gators to 16-11 overall on the season, but more importantly moves them into the semifinal round Thursday night and with that comes an automatic berth in the upcoming state playoffs.

The two teams battled on fairly even terms in this elimination contest throughout the first period, as Gautier’s Tyrek High made a close jump shot and added another basket from mid-range and Kelly Steele added a 3-pointer as the Gators took a close 12-10 lead at the end of the first frame.
East Central’s A.J. Hopkins enjoyed a big opening quarter as he kept the Hornets right in the game with eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Gautier began to stretch its lead slowly as the second stanza unfolded, as Tristan Street and Dominic Bang each dropped in a triple apiece and the Gators out-scored ECHS 14-8 to head into halftime up 26-18.

In the third frame, the Gators began to take control even more so as High accounted for eight points and Jaden Banks bombed in a pair of 3-pointers and suddenly Gautier grabbed a commanding 48-28 advantage entering the fourth period and cruised to the win.
High paced the Gators with 14 points, while Connor Smith added 12 points to the winning cause and Banks had 10 points and Bang scored eight points.
Hopkins, just a sophomore, poured in a game-high 24 points in the loss for the Hornets as the season came to an end for ECHS.

Gautier, the third seed in this annual affair, will face Wayne County at 8:30 p.m., Thursday night in the semifinals with a trio to Friday night’s title tilt on the line. The two teams split their two regular season meetings, both in exciting fashion with road wins as GHS won 47-46 in Waynesboro and the War Eagles took a 54-52 win in Gautier.

The winner of the game earns a first round home game in the upcoming Class 5A South State playoffs.