By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GULFPORT — The pairings are set for the 41st annual Gulfport Hardwood Club Holiday Classic to take place here at Bert Jenkins Gymnasium on the campus of Gulfport High School.
The host Admirals will host seven other squads over a three day span Dec. 26th-28th in what is one of the last three round true “tournament” style events left in the regular season in the state of Mississippi where winners play winners and losers face losers.

And, after an aberration last season when Gulfport was the only “Southern Six” squad in the event for the first time in its 40 year history, two other squads from the Mississippi Gulf Coast will join in the fray this season.
Ocean Springs and Pass Christian will join the host Gulfport and two other in-state squads in Starkville and Madison Central as well as a trio of squads from Alabama in Mobile Davidson, Daphne Bayshore Academy and Oxford High to round out the impressive field.
The opening round of action will see OSHS face Davidson at 3:00 p.m., followed by PCHS and MCHS at 4:30. In a sort of a weird Egg Bowl match-up, Starkville will take on Oxford at 6 p.m., and things will wrap up with Gulfport taking on Bayshore at 7:30.

The same game times will follow for action on both Friday the 27th and Saturday the 28th.
The Admirals are off to a solid 13-0 start under new head coach Brian Butler this season and need just one more win this week to make it to the Hardwood Holiday Classic with an unbeaten record in his first taste of the long-running event.
Gulfport moved to 13-0 with a 58-51 overtime win over New Orleans Crescent City Saturday in the Friendly City Classic in Long Beach.

Morris Robertson Jr., paced the Admirals with 16 points in the win over the Pioneers while Ladarius Johnson chipped in 10 points to the winning effort and Chance Gaines added nine points. Denzel Jackson had eight points and C.J. Burnham had seven points to complete the very balanced scoring performance for GHS.
Gulfport hosts D’Iberville in Region 4-7A action Friday night before both take off for the upcoming Christmas break.