DAPHNE, Ala.— Baldwin County High and Daphne advanced to the Class 6A, Area 3 tournament finals with semifinal wins at Daphne High’s Trojan Gym Friday night. The Trojans will host the BCHS Tigers Monday at 7 p.m. for the Area 3 championship.

Baldwin County won a hard-fought battle over Robertsdale 56-49 while Daphne got off to a sluggish start but ramped up in the second half to take a 49-35 semifinal win.

BALDWIN COUNTY 56, ROBERTSDALE 49

The Tigers overcame a 26-21 halftime deficit against Robertsdale to take the lead 41-36 to close out the third quarter. The Golden Bears rallied in the fourth but were ultimately outscored 15-13 down the stretch.

"I'm proud of the fact that we did enough to win the ballgame," said BCHS head coach Lorenzo Hunter who is fielding one of his youngest teams in years.

"We just had a mental block though like with things we had worked on all week in getting ready for this game,” Hunter added. “As a coach, you just have to shake your head sometimes. I think that may have been the worst that we have played all year long. I have no answer for the way that we played tonight. At times tonight, the game was out of my hands. I just tried to find five guys who could will their way to win the game."

Isiah Dortch and Montrey Bishop led the Tigers with 18 points and 14 points each. Montez Brown added eight points for BCHS. Robertsdale was led by Rashad Hobby’s game-high 20 points, Dylan Smith with 12 and Lonnie Dailey who finished with eight for the Golden Bears.

DAPHNE 49, FAIRHOPE 35

In the other semifinal game Fairhope built an 11-5 lead over Daphne in the first eight minutes. A 15-10 run in the Trojans’ favor gave the tournament hosts a slim 21-20 lead at the half. DHS then held the Pirates to single-digit scores in the third and fourth periods for a 39-14 second-half margin.

"We had a more balanced scoring night," said Daphne head coach Cedric Yelding. "That's a good thing because when your normal leaders don't have the kind of game they’re used to and you still end up winning the game, something good is going on."

Tevin Rencher had a game-high 12 points to lead the Trojans. Mike James added nine points and Kareem Brown had eight for DHS. Javon Curry led the Pirates with 10 points.

“Fairhope always comes out ready to play us," said Daphne head coach Cedric Yelding. "It’s a great rivalry and we both want to win whenever we play each other. But tonight, we got off to a very slow start. And this is the time of year you can’t do that. So, I'm proud of the way that the kids got focused by the half.  And they came back out knowing this was a must-win game and they responded in the second half."