By CURTIS ROCKWELL?Sports Director

GULFPORT — Last year, during an historically dismal season for the Gulfport boys basketball team, the Admirals managed just nine wins total in 30 games which marked the least amount of wins and the most amount of losses in a single season in at least nine decades for the program.
This year, under the direction of new head coach Brian Butler, the Admirals are just one win short of that total just three weeks into a new campaign.
Gulfport moved to 8-0 overall with its second win in two days Tuesday night at home in Bert Jenkins Gym in the annual “Gulfport Thanksgiving Shootout”.

“I’m very proud of our guys and how they’ve taken care of business in the beginning of this season,” Butler, who became the first-ever African-American head hoops coach in GHS boys history this year, said. “8-0 is very good, but we still have a long way to go. This is a very special group of young men, with endless potential, that are truly excited about creating their own legacy within the storied tradition of Gulfport basketball.”
Tuesday night, in the final game of the two day 11 game event, Butler’s Admirals knocked off Northeast Lauderdale 71-56.
Chance Gaines dropped in eight points for Gulfport in the first quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers, while Morris Robertson, Jr., and Tavarus Brown also drained a trey each as GHS tallied 24 points in the opening period to take a quick 24-16 lead.
Despite a 3-pointer from Admiral Cameron Morris in the second stanza, the visiting Trojans countered with a quartet of treys including a pair from Stephen Lightsey as they cut the deficit to 37-34 going into halftime.

But a 25-point third period from the home team that contained eight points by Travor Frost and five points by Brown including a trey turned the momentum back in Gulfport’s favor and Butler’s crew sailed to the win.
Gaines guided Gulfport with 16 points while Frost had 12 points, Robertson 11 and Brown 10 points as the Admirals placed four players in double digits in the winning effort.
It marked the second straight game in which GHS put a quartet of players in double digits, as they also did on Monday in the final game of the opening day of action.

Gulfport knocked of Mobile (Ala.) Davidson Monday night 69-57.
In that 12-point win over the Warriors, Denzel Jackson led the way for GHS with 14 points including a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth period. Frost chipped in 13 points, while both Robertson and Brown added 10 points apiece in the win.
The Admirals and Butler get to enjoy a few days off to celebrate Thanksgiving before getting back into action Saturday in Lyman at the annual “Harrison Central Thanksgiving Shootout” where they will face Port Gibson at 4:30 p.m.