By CURTIS ROCKWELL

GULFPORT — The St. Patrick boys are off to a solid 10-4 start under veteran head coach Keith Robinson.
And there’s one major reason why.
The Fighting Irish welcomed back senior Nick Krass to the starting line-up this season after he played for Gulfport High during his junior season last year. Krass spent his sophomore season at St. Patrick before transferring to be a part of an Admirals team that he helped earn a spot in the Class 6A South State playoffs.
Krass came back to SPHS over the Summer, and his return has ignited not only his individual play but he has helped the Fighting Irish post some wins over some stiff and much larger competition so far this season as well.

The 6-foot-2 Krass is averaging almost 27 points per game so far this season as the Fighting Irish prepare to host Gautier in a rare Thursday afternoon matinee. He has topped the 30-point mark in a game five times including pouring in 42 points in just three quarters of action in a 83-43 thumping of George County earlier this season.
In the past 10 days, Krass has guided the Class 3A Fighting Irish to wins over a Class 6A west Jones (65-60), Class 5A perennial state power Laurel (77-72) as well as Class 4A foe Bay High (54-42).
“I was impressed with him. He played with really great pace regardless of the games flow,” veteran Bay High head coach Kelton Thompson said, of Krass. “I thought he really navigated the help well at the second level, whether attacking the rim or pulling up. Really good midrange game. He has a lot of tools that will translate well to the next level.”

Krass tallied a game-high 28 points in that win over Thompson’s Tigers, and he also had four rebounds and three assists. He was coming off a an imprsiive display against Laurel several days before, when he registered a game-high 37 points as well as grabbing six rebounds and dishing out four assists in that five-point win.
Not to mention, the day after leading SPHS to the win over Bay High on Friday Krass posted 24 points in that win road win over West Jones on Saturday.
The Fighting Irish stand 6-1 in the month of December, and are on a five-game win streak as they host the Gators Thursday afternoon. St. Pat’s only loss of this month came to Class 6A foe West Harrison, a game in which the Hurricanes limited Krass to just 13 points in a 66-42 decision.
In fact, two of St. Patrick’s four losses on the season have been to Class 7A schools in Ocean Springs and D’Iberville, while the other two have come at the hands of a pair of Class 6A schools in WHHS and Pearl River Central.

Krass averaged almost 35 points per game in the first five games of the season for SPHS, including that monster performance against George County as well as a 29-point, six-rebound outing in a 79-40 win over Class 5A Vancleave. He also poured in 38 points in a season-opening 63-53 loss to D’Iberville, an outing that seemed to serve as a harbinger of things to come for the Fighting Irish’s opponents this year.
His emergence as one of the leading scorers in the state has seemed to help the performances of some of his teammates as well. Just recently, classmate Alex Tripett posted a double-double in that win over West Jones Saturday, adding 14 points and 11 rebounds as well as four blocks to the winning cause and Liam Buchanan chipped in 10 points and seven boards.

In the 12-point win over Bay High the previous night, Triplett had yet another double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds and he also swatted away six shots, while Jack Hewes scored seven points and had three assists and a trio of steals as well.
In support of that 37-point effort by Krass in the five-point win over always-powerful Laurel, Hewes tallied 13 and had four assists, while Triplett began his stretch of three consecutive double-double performances with 10 points, 15 boards and seven blocks and Brendan Moton chipped 13 points and seven rebounds.

Thursday afternoon’s game with Gautier is the last for the Fighting Irish before the Christmas break. After returning to the court with a pair of games between Christmas and New Years, Krass and his troops come out of the gate once the calendar flips to 2024 by beginning Region 8-3A action with a game at Tylertown on Jan. 5th.