DAPHNE, Alabama — The Tigers of Baldwin County High finished strong at Daphne with a 75-55 road win over the Trojans on Friday night.

Apollo Dailey led BCHS with 17 points, Larry Rodgers had 14, Mikhail Lamar 13 and Marcus Johnson 11 as the Tigers improved to 19-11. Daphne’s Chris Sain scored 13 points and Bradley Nero added 12 while Kareem Brown, Donovan Dale and C.J. Yelding had seven each for the 9-14 Trojans.

An explosive 26-11 run in the second quarter propelled the Tigers into the half with a 41-22 lead. The first and last quarters had the only close per-period scoring of the game as Daphne reduced the margin to 13 midway into the fourth and outscored BCHS 16-13 down the stretch. But the Tigers had too big a lead and the Trojans had too little time.

Daphne went ahead 6-0 to start the game but fell behind 13-11 to start the second quarter.

Tigers coach Lorenzo Hunter said his defense seldom gives up more than 50 points per game, but some new approaches have focused more on the offensive side.  

“We have been working on some different things as far as pairing up some kids in different ways. Kind of played with it during the year, and it’s been starting to look good down the stretch. Defensively we thought we played a little better. But I still don’t like giving up 55 points. We like to hold the other team to less and score more. But overall I think we responded well and were able to play our game most of the time tonight.”

BCHS plays Williamson Friday at McGill at 6 p.m. in the first round of the boys 6A Area 4 tournament. Finals will be Monday at 7:30 p.m.

Daphne coach Cedric Yelding was disappointed in the loss, but sees some brighter skies through the clouds. 

“It’s not the best we can play. I think part of it is the let down after the intensity of the area competition. Winning the regular season and getting to host the tournament was a relief and sometimes you have a let down in between like this. But we have to get focused again on the area tournament and get a win because there’s no tomorrow if we don't.”

Daphne will host the 6A Area 3 boys tournament beginning Friday at 6 p.m. The boys finals will be at DHS at 7:30 p.m. after the girls Area 3 finals at 6 p.m. Only the area winner and runner-up advance to the state playoff sub-regional round Feb. 17.