By CURTIS ROCKWELL

ST. MARTIN — The Pass Christian boys took a trip to the Sunshine State over the weekend, and came home with three straight losses after playing in a tournament in Orlando.
The Pirates wasted no time in getting back on the winning track once back in their home state, however.
Pass Christian rollled into St. Martin and knocked off the home-standing Yellow Jackets 58-36 Tuesday night. The win moved the Pirates to 9-6 overall on the season, and it marked the final game for veteran head coach Buddy Kennedy’s squad before taking a couple of weeks off for a holiday break.

“Sometimes coaching high school basketball is a lot more than the on-court results and X’s and O’s,” Kennedy said. “We lost all three games in Florida but I thought that spending four days together on that trip helped us maybe kind of mesh together a little more as a team. All three games could have gone either way, and I fully expected us to play better once we got back home.”
St. Martin was coming off just its second win of the season and fell to 2-12 overall with the loss.
The return home after those three losses seemed to be a wake-up call for Pass Christian, as the Pirates shot out of the gate with a 19-0 run to start the game and took a commanding 21-6 lead after the first quarter thanks to 10 points from L.J. Jaynes who scored 10 points in the opening frame including a pair of 3-pointers.

We came ready to play, which was good to see,” Kennedy, who missed Tuesday’s game with a minor illness, said. “We’ve been trying to get back to more full-court pressure early on and that paid off for us.”
The Pirates didn’t drop off much as the second stanza unfolded, as Jaynes scored six more points including yet another trey and Pass Christian outscored the Yellow Jackets 14-10 to extend their advantage to 19 points at halftime at 35-16.
No big comeback rally was in the works for the home team on this night, as Pass Christian forward Brendan Necaise took over for Jaynes and drained four 3-pointers in the second half, two in each of the third and fourth periods, for 12 of his 13 points on the evening as the Pirates kept the Yellow Jackets at bay and cruised to the impressive win.

Pass Christian also had to work through unknown territory in the first half of its schedule, after the Pirates football team advanced further into the state playoffs than ever before in the history of the program. Seven members of the PCHS basketball teams were also members of that football squad that reached the third round of the Class 4A Sout State playoffs.
“We were without three of our top six players for that long, which was uncharted waters for us,” Kennedy, who is in his 28th season all told over two different stints at the helm of the PCHS basketball squad, added. “It was great for the football team and for the school, but it was an adjustment for all of us, players and coaches. But it also gave some of our younger players a chance to get some experience that they might not have normally gotten, and hopefully that will pay off later in the year for us.’
Jaynes paced the Pass with 19 points, including those aforementioned 16 in the first half. He added his fourth 3-pointer of the night in the third frame when Necaise had his pair as well. Necaise chipped in 13 points to the winning cause, and Landon Hill added seven points to the winning cause.
St. Martin got 12 points from Jax Walker, including seven of those in the third period when he attempted to keep the Yellow Jackets in the contest. He also had five assists. R.J. Keys added seven points for St. Martin, and
Ty’Lah Whitlock had 10 rebounds.
Pass Christian is off until Jan., 3rd, when it opens Region 8-4A play against Bay High. St. Martin resumes play in the Pearl River Central Christmas Tournament next week.