By MAURICE SINGLETON/Sports Writer
PASS CHRISTIAN — The Pass High Pirates went on a 10-0 scoring run midway through the fourth quarter to secure a 57-48 win over Forest in the second round of the Class 4A South State playoffs on Saturday night.
Forest High tied the game at 44-44 on a 3-pointer with 5:22 remaining on the fourth quarter game clock. Anthony James broke the tie with a 10-foot jump shot to break the tie following a Johnathan Jackson block shot on the defensive end. Jackson then scored on a layup.

From there it was the Kyran Laneaux show as the sophomore would account for the Pirates’ next six points. He made consecutive free throws, followed by a layup, then on a thunderous dunk off an assist following a steal. The Pirates led 54-44 with 1:38 on the game clock, and the fans roared in approval, realizing that the Pirates were on their way to the third round of the playoffs.

“We kept trying to change up what we were doing,” said Pirates’ coach Buddy Kennedy. “We played zone defense a little bit, we’d played a man defense a little bit, get in a press for a few minutes, then get back out of the press, trying to keep them off balance. Finally, there in the fourth quarter, that pressure got to them a couple of trips. We got a couple of turnovers, and Kyran got a couple of scores out of the press, and that kind of changed everything.”

“They’re very effective at what they do,” said Kennedy. “They’ve got a kid on the inside that’s a lot to contend with and the other other post player that kind of cleans up a lot of stuff.”
The Pirates got going early, taking a 17-8 lead after one quarter of play. Forest would outscore Pass in the second (19-15) and third (13-10) quarters. But the first and fourth quarter margins were too much for the visitors to overcome.

Laneaux led the Pirates’ scorers with 15 points, followed by LJ Jaynes with 14 points. Jaynes would sink 8 of eight free throws on the night. Necaise added 8 points.
Necaise also played huge on the defensive end, recording seven blocks on the night, two of which came within seconds of each other.
The Pirates advance to the Class 4A South State Quarterfinals Tournament next weekend in Poplarville. Pass is up for a tough task, however, facing Raymond, the defending Class 4A state champs, Saturday night.