By MAURICE SINGLETON/Sports Writer

PASS CHRISTIAN — The Pass High Pirates routed Northeast Jones in the first round of the 4A South State playoffs on Tuesday. The Tigers were never a threat in the lopsided 74-24 Pass win.

The Pirates scored 12 points before the Tigers got on the scoreboard with a free throw at the 2:23 mark of the first quarter. The Pirates would close out the quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 21-3 lead after one quarter of play.

The second quarter was more of the same as the Pirates held the visitors to 3 points in the second quarter also, while they put up 22 points in the period.

Leading 43-6 at halftime, the decision was made to play with a running clock in the second half. The Tigers would put up more points in the second half, scoring 12 points in the third period and 6 in the fourth as the Pirates went deep into their bench to allow all of their players playing time.

“We try to push them to compete on every play,” said Pirates’ coach Robin Sikes. “I am thankful to take over a program that has been historically great. This is the house that Coach Kennedy built.

“Next round, we’ve got to continue to compete every play. Hard work beats talent when talent don’t work,” said Sikes. “I’m not oblivious to the fact that we do have some talented guys out there, but we’ve got to work hard, and we’ve got to compete every possession. If not, we’re going to lose. And we want to win, and we want to continue to advance, and so, we’ve got to play hard.”

Perry Williams got the Pirates going, scoring on a layup on the game’s opening possession. He recorded a steal a few seconds later and again scored on a layup to put the Pirates up 4-0.

Landon Hall would score 9 points in the first quarter, and Jonathan Jackson would score on a 8-foot jumper and would follow that with a layup on the Pirates’ next possession.

Kyran Laneaux opened the Pirates’ second half scoring with a resounding dunk that started an 18-2 run. The Pirates led 43-6 at halftime, and the game was clearly out of the reach of the visiting Tigers. So the game went to a running clock at the beginning of the third quarter.

Northeast Jones had their best offensive output of the game in the third period as they put up 12 points. Pass would outscore Northeast Jones 31-18 in the second half.

Hall led Pass with 20 points, including four 3-pointers. Jackson scored 10 points, Lathan Lewis and Terrell Bailey contributed 9 points each, and Laneaux scored 8 points.

Zachariah Scott led Northeast Jones with 7 points, and Quandarius Cooley finished with 6 points.

With the win the Pirates improve to 21-9 on the season. They will host Columbia on Saturday in the second round of the South State 4A playoffs. Northeast Jones’ season ended with a record of 5-20.