By CURTIS ROCKWELL

It’s a rarity that hasn’t been experienced in the prep basketball ranks in the “Southern Six’ in almost two decades, especially among the larger schools.
And that is the tip-off of region action for most boys and girls squads before they even get to unwrap their Christmas gifts.
But that’s exactly the case, as we sit a little over two weeks away from that magical time as over half of the 25 squads in the “Southern Six” begin league play Friday night in various gymnasiums across the Mississippi Gulf Coast and South Mississippi.
Region play starts in the new Class 7A as well as Class 6A this week and in Class 5A and Class 4A as well as some other smaller classifications next week.
And the change in scheduling comes in direct correlation with the expansion to that new Class 7A by the Mississippi High School Activities Association over the Summer. Teams in the three largest classifications went from playing just six league games to now playing 10 region contests due to expanding not only in classifications but moving from four team regions to six team regions.

So, for most squads, when in the past you may have gotten to play around 16 games before beginning league plqy, now some have played as many as 10 and even others have played even fewer games entering region action.
“It’s a case where you just have to get adjusted to it pretty quickly,” first year Ocean Springs head boys’ basketball coach Colin Goley said. Goley came to his alma mater after serving the past three seasons in the same post at Hancock High.
Goley’s Greyhounds begin Region 4-7A play Friday night by hosting arch-rival St. Martin. Ocean Springs then goes on to play both D’Iberville and Biloxi in league action next week on Tuesday and Friday meaning the Greyhounds will play three region games in an eight day span before the Christman break.

“We were one of the few teams when I was at Hancock that actually played a region game before the Christmas break, but I mean we’re about to play three in basically a week long span to begin the region schedule,” Goley, who has his Greyhounds off to a solid 8-2 start, added. “That’s really crazy if you think about it. But I’m just glad we’ve been able to get 10 games in so far because these first three games in region play will be huge.”
Elsewhere in Region 7-4A play Friday night, Harrison Central travels to Gulfport and D’Iberville travels to Biloxi as all six boys’ and girls’ squads in the loop tip-off league play on the same night.
Also, in Region 4-6A on Friday night, Long Beach heads to Pascagoula and George County travels to Hancock while West Harrison hosts Picayune as all six boys’ and girls’ squads in that league get loop play underway as well.