By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GULFPORT — The “Southern Six” is in a drought of epic proportions when it comes to winning prep state basketball championships.
It’s been 10 years since a hoops squad has brought a Gold Ball home to this area, the longest such stretch in almost seven decades.
So, it seems only fitting that the last team to win a state title in the “Southern Six” is the one boys squad that has won more than any other in this area.
Ten years ago, Gulfport, under the direction of former Admiral standout Owen Miller, captured the Class 6A state championship for the ninth overall title in school history on the hardwood.
That win capped a three-year run in which Gulfport won 90 games and re-established itself as the perennial boy’s basketball power in the state of Mississippi.
In the title tilt, Gulfport slipped past Grenada 64-59 on March 15th, 2014 at The Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.

“It was very special to me, and still is,” Miller, now in his second season as the head men’s coach at Gulf Coast Community College, said. “It was a great year. We finished 32-3 and had a mature group with one goal, and that was winning a State Championship and we did just that.”
Junior Admiral guard Jashire Hardnett was the star that sone brightest that historic night for Gulfport, as he helped stake the Admirals to a quick start with 13 first quarter points and Gulfport jumped out to a nine-point lead at the end of the first period. The Admiral’s biggest lead of the night came midway through the third frame at 46-30 and Gulfport trailed just twice in the big win.
Hardnett finished with a game-high 30 points and was named the Most Valuable Player in the game. His pair of free throws with nine seconds left sealed the win. He went on to play college ball at Brigham Young.

Dimirti Cook chipped in 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds to the winning effort, while sophomore guard Jonathan “Biscuit” Floyd added 10 points including two key free throws as well with :46 seconds left that gave the Admirals the lead for good at 50-49.
Senior forward Derrick Anderson was a steady force inside all night for GH, as he scored seven points and grabbed seven boards while battling Grenada’s 6-foot-11 center Jonah White all night. Although White ended the game with 17 points, Anderson and the Admiral defense limited him to just four first half points as Gulfport built a big enough advantage to withstand a furious rally by the Chargers late in the game.
“They grew on and off the floor as the season went on,” Miller added. “That group played for each other. We had great leadership which is a MUST. The thing that sticks out looking back at that team was their will to win, and it did not matter who got the credit. All that mattered was that the Admirals won.”
The Admirals had two fairly long win streaks that historic season, tipping the year off with 14 straight wins and then later going on a 12-game run.

Admiral Nation and prep basketball fans all across South Mississippi could see early on that something special might be brewing for Miller and his crew that season, as Gulfport registered a pair of wins each over powerful Pascagoula and always formidable Meridian in that season-opening win streak as well as rivals Biloxi and Harrison Central.
A little over a decade earlier, the Admirals, Indians and Red Rebels had notched a spot in the history books by becoming the first trio of teams ever to win three consecutive state championships while coming out of the same district in 2000, 2001 and 2202.
Gulfport also won games against teams from Louisiana and Alabama that season 10 years ago, as well as going on to beat meridian a total of three times and Hattiesburg, Biloxi and HCHS twice each.
The Admirals avenged one of their trio of losses in the Overall Class 6 Final Four semifinal round at The Big House with a 44-40 win over Madison Central just three days prior to the title tilt. The Jaguars had upset GHS in the championship game of its own annual Admiral Hardwood Club Holiday Classic in late December.
But, the win in the rematch a little less than three months later vaulted Miller’s squad into the state finals where they secured their ninth and last to date crown.
“These kids, I can’t say enough about them,” Miller told a sports writer right after the win. “They refused to believe what everybody said. They said we were too little, too inexperienced and that we can’t play with people in Jackson. They proved them all wrong. We’ve got number nine now.”