By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

BILOXI — When Matt Krass decided to transfer back to St. Patrick for his senior season, that instantly made the Fighting Irish one of the favorites in Region 8-3A.
And Krass has continued to prove exactly why all season long.
When he nailed a 3-pointer just over a minute into Tuesday night’s Class 3A South State playoff opener against Seminary to provide the Fighting Irish with their first points of the night, he ignited a 19-2 run to finish the first frame.
And, for the most part, The Fighting Irish never looked back.

Krass, who played at Gulfport High last year, poured in a game-high 39 points as the Fighting Irish dismantled the Bulldogs 85-54 to advance to the Class 3A South State quarterfinals Saturday night.

“We played in streaks tonight,’ SPHS head coach Keith Robinson said. “The 19-0 run in the first quarter sparked us, but we did not play consistent throughout the game .”
The initial trey by Krass gave the Fighting Irish their first lead of the night, and St. Patrick never trailed again. He would add yet another 3-pointer with a minute to play to make it 17-2, and a pair of short jump shots by Brendan Moton were part of the 19-0 run as well before Seminary got a basket to end the period at 19-4.
The Fighting Irish led at halftime by 12, at 31-19. The closest the Bulldogs got in the second half was eight points, at 38-30, with a little over three minutes to play in the third frame.

But St. Patrick was having none of that, responding with a 16-6 run that included (guess what) another 3-pointer by Krass as well as an old-fashioned three-point play from him and a slam dunk by Alex Triplett and suddenly the lead was 54-46 as the quarter wound down.
Krass wasn’t the only Fighting Irish player to produce a solid performance with his 39 points, as Moton chipped in 18 points to the winning effort and Triplett had 10.
It was the 11th straight win for the Fighting Irish, as they moved to a solid 22-7 under the veteran head coach Robinson overall on the season.

Andre Johnson had 16 points for Seminary.
Seminary had lost three of its last four games coming into Tuesday’s game. The Bulldogs were hammered by Jefferson Davis County 65-36 in the consolation contest of the Region 8-3A Tournament Friday, following a 69-34 loss to Magee in the semifinal round of that same event.
St. Patrick was coming off an exciting 46-43 overtime win in the championship game of the Region 8-3A Tournament.