By Maurice Singleton/Sports Writer

D’IBERVILLE — The Gulfport Admirals (26-1) overcame an 11-2 West Harrison (21-6) run to close out the fourth quarter, taking the game to overtime. But the Admirals took care of business, closing the game out on four free throws to secure a 57-54 on Wednesday.

The win put the Admirals in a rematch against Biloxi in the 7A Region 4 champion game on Friday night.

The Admirals led the Hurricanes by eleven points (46-35) with five and half minutes left on the game clock, but the Hurricanes would go on an 11-0 run with senior center Hayden Boggs capping the drive with a layup to tie the game at 46-46 with 1:30 left on the game clock.

Cameron Morris would sink two free throws to regain the lead at 48-46 for Gulfport with just under a minute and a half left. West Harrison’s junior forward Logan Robinson would answer with a layup in traffic to tie the game at 48-48, pushing the game into overtime.

The Hurricanes’ mistake was to not close the game in regulation. Gulfport scored on a Jeffery Isabell three-pointer to start the Admirals scoring on their first possession of the overtime, and the Admirals would not relinquish the lead.

West Harrison would pull within one of the Admirals twice in the overtime, but they could never overcome that three-point margin that opened the period, as Gulfport would answer each West Harrison two-pointer with a two-pointer of their own the rest of the way.

Denzel Jackson scored on a layup in traffic and Ja’vious Hales and Isabell each went two for two at the free throw line in the last thirty seconds of the game.

“There’s a reason why those guys were ranked top five in the state early on,” said Gulfport coach Brian Butler. “The kids have grown up together, played against each other for a long time. Guards on both sides, real tough. Big shots made on both sides. Finished shots on both sides.

“Post players on both sides played real tough,” said Butler. “Really physical. A really good basketball game. Big games come down to layups and free throws.”

“We proved to ourselves that we are as good as anybody,” said West Harrison coach Jeff Norwood. “We just got to play the right way. We did for most of the game, but we did have a few times when we didn’t execute what we were setting out to execute, and it cost us. At the end of the day, they got too many layups.

“The big fellow in there, not only is he big, he plays hard, he works hard and takes up a lot of space,” said Norwood. “He’s hard to deal with. He got a bunch of and-ones (and) layups. If you give up layups, you’re not going to win most of the time.”

Sophomore center Travor Frost led Gulfport with 17 points. Denzel Jackson chipped in 15 points, and Morris Robertson added 10 points.

Boggs and Logan Robinson led the Hurricanes’ scoring with 12 points apiece.

West Harrison resumes play on Thursday, playing Ocean Springs for the third place spot in the 7A South rankings.