By MAURICE SINGLETON/Sports Writer

GULFPORT — The Gulfport Admirals clinched the Region 4-7A basketball championship on Friday night, defeating Biloxi 62-61 on their home court.

Gulfport freshman Travor Frost dunked the ball in the half-court offense to give the Admirals the lead at 56-53. And on their next time down, the Admirals made a fast break pass to senior Morris Robertson who was defended near midcourt. Robertson gave his defender a head fake, got past him and slammed it through the nets to give the Admirals a five-point lead (58-53) with just over three minutes remaining on the game clock.

Biloxi turned the ball over on their next two possessions, first on a bad pass that was stolen, and then on an errant pass that went out of bounds. But their defense kept fighting, and on Gulfport’s next possession they came up with a steal, and Aaron Bolden capitalized for the Indians with a slam dunk to put the Indians within three (58-55).

Gulfport would sink four free throws with under a minute left as Denzel Jackson sank two and Robertson sank two more on their next possession to give them a 62-55 lead with 30 seconds left.

Kentrell Beasley sank a 3-pointer for the Indians with just 20 ticks remaining to pull within four 62-58). The Indians were forced to foul to stop the clock, and the foul proved to be successful as the Admirals missed both free throws, leaving just under 10 ticks left. The Indians were able to get a good look from 3-point range as Alejandro Montalvo swished it in from the right corner. But the last couple of seconds of game clock expired as the ball hit the court, and the Admirals didn’t even have to inbound the ball.

“No better feeling than this,” said Gulfport coach Brian Butler. “Hats goes off to Biloxi. They played a great basketball game. Tremendous effort. They made shots. They made great plays. We had to survive their runs. But our guys turned around and made plays too.

“Our guys are very resilient guys. They’ve seen every type of game,” said Butler. “So they are prepared for it, and they responded very well.”

There were sixteen lead changes over the course of the game. Biloxi led 15-10 at the end of the first quarter. Gulfport outscored Biloxi in the second and third quarters (22-16) and (19-16). Biloxi would win the fourth quarter, outscoring Gulfport 14-11 in the period.

“I thought my kids showed a lot of heart to a really good well-coached Gulfport team,” said Biloxi coach Seber Windham. “I thought we showed some resilience, I thought we showed some toughness. At the end of the day, the made the most important plays, which are the hustle plays, the rebounding and what not. And they made some free throws.

“Gulfport is ranked number four or five in the state,” said Windham. “This game tells our kids that we are real close to being one of the better teams in the state. We’ve got a week to prepare. If we just keep working and maybe solve some of those small things, we feel like we can win on Friday and get to the Final Four.”

Frost led Gulfport with 13 points. Markel Simmons, Morris Roberston, Chance Gains, and C.J. Burnham each scored 10 points for the Admirals. Montalvo led Biloxi with 18 points, followed by Beasley with12 points and Alan Ayala with 10 points.

Gulfport (27-2) will host Meridian (14-12) on Saturday. Biloxi (18-6) will host Northwest Rankin (15-14).

Butler was named Region 4 7A Coach of the Year. Robertson was named Region 4 7A Player of the Year.