By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GULFPORT — It’ll be a much better Christmas day for the Gulfport boy’s basketball team this year than the last one was.
That’s because the Admirals moved to a perfect 14-0 under new head coach Brian Butler Friday night with a 56-40 win over visiting D’Iberville in Region 4-7A action at Bert Jenkins Gymnasium. Just as important as being 14-0 heading into Christmas, Gulfport sits a solid 3-0 in league play as well.
In comparison, the Admirals were a paltry 6-7 last season at the same point under then first-year head coach Steve Hesser, who lasted just one year.

Gulfport got a combined 39 points from the trio of Morris Robertson, Jr., Denzel Jackson and C.J. Burnham in the win over the Warriors.
“Our guys battled hard tonight to earn a much needed district win,” Gulfport head coach Brian Butler said. “They want to be atop the district, and they understand what it will take to get them there. They have to handle business one district game at a time.”
Robertson got the Admirals rolling inside early in the first frame as he tallied six points and Gulfport took an 11-8 lead after the opening period despite a 3-pointer from Warrior sharp-shooter Juan Santiago.

In the second stanza, the Admirals began to take control as Jackson buried a pair of treys of his own and the home team out-scored DH 17-6 in the quarter to take the first double digit lead of the game and then double up the Warriors at 28-14 heading into halftime. Santiago had five of the six DHS points in the period including his second 3-pointer.
Any ideas the Warriors had of a second half comeback were quickly laid to rest as the third quarter unfolded as Gulfport again sailed high behind seven points from Robertson including a trey as well as five points from Jackson to outscore DHS 19-10 and motor into the fourth frame with a commanding 47-24 advantage and cruise to the win.

Robertson tallied a game-high 19 points for Gulfport and Jackson added 11 points while Burnham chipped in nine to the winning effort.
Santiago and Jaylan Johnson finished with 12 points apiece for the Warriors, while Devion Hart added eight points.
D’Iberville, also under the direction of a new head coach in former Picayune mentor Eric Vianney, dropped to 10-4 overall with the loss and is also 0-3 in the region race.