By MAURICE SINGLETON/Sports Writer
BAY ST. LOUIS — The Pass High Pirates (10-7, 1-0) opened district play with a convincing 57-34 win over Bay High (4-14, 1-1) Wednesday night at the Tigerdome. The win marked the 600th win for veteran Pass High coach Buddy Kennedy.
The Pirates went on a 14-4 run to open the game and held onto a 16-7 lead after one quarter of play. Gus Simpson got the Pirates going with two quick baskets, the first a 5-footer followed a rebound and a putback, which seemed to set the tone for the Pirates against an undersized Tigers team.
“I thought that particularly at the beginning of each half, we worked real hard to get the shot we were trying to get and not settle for stuff,” said Kennedy. “We had a couple of big guys that battled really hard on the boards.
“We still don’t feel like we put it all together yet,” said Kennedy. “We think the efforts’ there, the consistency. We’re working our way to where we want to be.”
Regarding the 600th win, Kennedy appears to play down the milestone. He said that he has tried to keep it a secret. “I’m just happy to get the win to open district,” said Kennedy.
Both teams had their best offensive production in the third quarter as the Pirates outscored the Tigers 17-15 in the period. The Pirates would sink three 3-pointers in the period – two by Brendan Necaise and one by Terry Patton, Jr. Bay High’s Anthony Robinson would sink two 3-pointers in the period.
Lauren Jaynes led Pass High with 12 points, followed by Necaise and Patton with 11 points each.
Robinson led the Tigers’ scoring with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Bay high is even at 1-1 in league play after opening the region race with a 56-33 win over Poplarville three weeks ago.
“Anthony’s a good player, and he’s got a chance to be a really great player,” said Tigers’ coach Kelton Thompson. “He missed all of last year with a knee injury. So this is his first year of playing high school basketball. But we’ve got to give him some relief from handling the basketball.
“I’ve been really proud of him,” said Thompson. “He sees a lot of bodies. We ask a lot from him from a scoring production standpoint, and from a coaching standpoint, we haven’t given him the help he needs. So, we’ve all got to do a better job of taking the pressure off of him.”
Pass High travels to Poplarville on Friday. Bay High hosts Greene County on Friday.
Bay High Lady Tigers 41, Pass High 17
Bay High (14-5, 2-0) jumped out to a 16-4 lead at the end of the first quarter and they never looked back against Pass High (6-11, 0-1) to move to 2-0 in Region 8-4A play. The Lady Tigers would hold the Lady Pirates scoreless in the fourth quarter as they closed out the visitors 41-17.
Pass High scored the first basket of the game, and that would be the only lead they would have, as the Lady Tigers responded with a 16-2 over the remainder of the first quarter. It was the region opener for PCHS.
“I thought we got off to a great start said Lady Tigers coach Kelton Thompson. “We shot the ball well, and I thought we had great patience, and we got some great open looks. The girls were locked in and ready to go.
“There was a lot of rhythm and flow to the offense, and that’ll generally make you shoot a little bit better,” said Thompson.
The Lady Tigers would have their biggest scoring runs in the first and third quarters, adding 13 points in the third quarter after only scoring 4 points in the second quarter to the Pass High’s 6 points in the period.
Kayla Fricke would lead the Lady Tigers with 12 points, scoring 6 points in each of the first and third quarters. Nakeria Coleman added 8 points for the Lady Tigers.
Bay High hosts Greene County on Friday, and Pass High travels to Poplarville on Friday.
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