By Maurice Singleton/Sports Writer

GULFPORT – Gulfport held off a late St. Stanislaus rally to get its first Admiral Holiday Classic championship trophy since 2013, as the host team defeated the Rock-A-Chaws 56-48 on Wednesday afternoon here at Bert Jenkins Gym.

“This feels really good,” said Gulfport coach Brian Butler. “Gulfport has some awesome traditions, has a lot of nuances about it. So, to have our name out there feels really good.”

Gulfport outscored the Rock-A-Chaws in each of the first three quarters to take a 47-30 lead going into the fourth quarter. They got going early with the three-point shot, as Morris Robertson sank two of two in the first quarter, and scored 10 of the team’s nineteen points in the period.

“He’s a great shooter, and he’s a very hard worker,” said Butler. “He’s one of the very first guy in the gym. We talked about just coming through for our guys, and we put you in spots; make sure you produce for us, and he did a great job of it.”

Then Gulfport limited the Rock-A-Chaws to just four points in the second quarter while they put up 10 points.

Gulfport built up to a 26-point lead on a forceful Travor Frost dunk to put the Admirals up 47-21 late in the third quarter. That gave the Admirals their biggest lead of the night, and that was enough margin to hold off the Rock-A-Chaws.

But the Rock-A-Chaws appeared to get motivated more than the Admirals, as they closed out the third quarter on a 9-0 run. And they would extend that run, making it a 22-4 run as they pulled within 9 of the Admirals at 51-42.

The moment had seemed to be a mountain early for the Rock-A-Chaws as they missed on seven contested layups in the first half, but they raised their level, and outscored the Admirals 18-9 in the final quarter, having closed the game on a 27-9 run.

“It was all effort,” said Rock-A-Chaws coach Daniel Grieves. “We are going to have to dig ourselves out of a hole at some point in time, so we might as well start doing it now, against the number 5 team in the state at their Christmas tournament. And let’s make sure we leave everything out here.

“This is the first time we’ve had to play three grueling games in a row” said Grieves. “It’s a great litmus test for us. Hopefully, we can keep improving, because I think played better in these three days than we have in any three-day stretch.”

Gulfport was led by Frost with 18 points, followed by Robertson with 16 points, and Denzel Jackson and Dillon McInnis with 10 points each.

St. Stanislaus was led by Rafael Cohen with 21 points and Jason Forte with eight points. Max Baria and Alan Gilliam each chipped in 7 points apiece.

St. Stanislaus resume play on January 6 at Presbyterian Christian. Gulfport resumes play on Friday at Picayune.