By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GULFPORT — A year after finishing one of the worst regular seasons in the storied history of the program, the Gulfport Admirals ended the current campaign with one of its best in the past two decades.

Gulfport dispatched visiting Ocean Springs 60-36 to wrap up not only Region 4-7A play but regular season action as well for both teams Friday night at Bert Jenkins Gym.

The Admirals end up their first regular season under the direction of head coach Brian Butler at 26-2 overall and a perfect 10-0 in the region race. Butler replaced Steve Hesser at the helm of the Admirals after he went just 9-21 in his lone season at GHS.

Gulfport is now in the midst of its best season since 2014 when then head coach Owen Miller led the Admirals to a 34-3 record and the 2014 Class 6A state championship, which marks the last crown for the at one time perennial state power that has won nine overall.

“Our guys set a goal when I arrived back in April, and they worked extremely hard to achieve that goal.” Butler said. “We set out to be atop the district, and our guys didn’t want to settle for anything less. These young men have fought hard to live up to the Gulfport standard…however, the job is not finished yet.”

Gulfport heads into the Region 4-7A Tournament, which it hosts beginning on Monday, not only as the top seed in the annual affair but with a berth in the upcoming class 7A South State playoffs already secured.

Finishing up with an unbeaten region record was just about the only thing left for GHS to accomplish in its latest outing, and that’s exactly what it did.

The teams battled on pretty even terms throughout the first half, however, as the home team went to halftime up just 20-19 thanks to five first period points from Chance Gaines including a 3-pointer, five second stanza points from Markel Simmons and five first half points from C.J. Burnham.

The Greyhounds stayed close with seven first quarter points for Jeremy Packer and then Luke Mackin tallied all nine OSHS points in the second quarter including a pair of treys of his own.

But, the second half was all Admirals. Freshman center Travor Frost dropped in six points in the third frame while both Dillion McInnis and Morris Robertson, Jr., each nailed a 3-pointer and Gulfport steadily extended its lead to 39-25.

Butler’s crew never looked back from that point, as both Robertson and Cameron Morris scored five points apiece down the stretch including a trey for each and Ladarius Johnson added a triple of his own as the Admirals said to the win.

Frost tallied a game-high 14 points to guide Gulfport, while Simmons chipped in 11 points to the winning effort and Robertson added nine points.

Ocean Springs, which played its second straight game without Dandy Dozen senior standout Maddox Noblitt due to a two game suspension, got those nine points from Mackin, eight points from Christian Cowan and those seven points from Packer in the loss that dropped the Greyhounds to 12-12 overall on the year.