DAPHNE— An even first-half matchup got away from the Pirates in the later periods Friday as the Trojans pulled away in the third and fourth quarters for a 70-59 win at Daphne.

Tied 28-28 at the half, Daphne finished the third quarter with a 45-42 lead. In the fourth, from outside the arc, DHS out hit Fairhope four to two,

"I thought our kids played hard," said Fairhope coach Andy Ryan. "I was proud of some things we did, but we need to get where we can finish some plays when we do get to the basket. We need to defend better in the full court game. There were times we didn't extend our defense as well as I would like. (Daphne is ) a very athletic team and coach (Cedric) Yelding does a great job. Their depth kind of wore us down. I was proud of how we withstood a run they made in the third quarter and made a little bit of a comeback, but we need to work harder at getting better."

Yelding said playing Fairhope is always a test. "They are a very big rival for us and they are always going to be up every time we play. Coach Ryan motivates them and they are always well coached and play hard right down to the bitter end and we have to play our best to win against them every game. It's a good type of game to help get our guys to just gel together better and realize they have to play hard the whole game and not let up. It's one thing to have the athletes and that's great when you're a coach but it's more important to gel and that's the hard thing sometimes, but it's key."

Daphne's Michael Hobbs had 11 points in the first half and 10 in the second to lead the overall scoring while Fairhope's Tripp Drummond pumped in 19 for the Pirates.

Other double-digit shooters for DHS were R.J. Wilcox with 11 and Vance Jenkins with 10. Preston Solomon and T.J. Yeldon each added eight and Joe Menefee scored two threes down the stretch. Fairhope's Tyler Baggerly added 13 and Harvey Mitchell had 12 while Hayden Harrelson finished with seven.

DHS will travel to Robertsdale this Friday to take on the Golden Bears at RHS.

The Pirates will travel to Bay Minette this Friday to face the No. 7-ranked Baldwin County High Tigers with varsity boys set to play at 7:30 p.m.