FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Daphne’s Trojans clinched the Class 6A, Area 3 regular-season title with a big 56-37 finish at Fairhope Wednesday. The Trojans (15-9, 6-0) will host the Area 3 tournament for the second-straight year. The Pirates fell to 11-12, 2-4.

It was a tale of two halves as Fairhope’s zone defense derailed Daphne’s usual fast-train offense to hold the visitors to just one second-quarter point. The Pirates led 18-13 at the half but ran out of gas down the stretch.

Bradley Nero led with 14 game-high points and Justin Thomas added 12 for DHS. Fairhope was led by Trent Baggerly’s eight points.

"Fairhope was in a zone and we were settling for jump shots,” said Daphne coach Cedric Yelding “We would miss them and Fairhope ended up getting a lot of baskets in transition. I told them we had to be more aggressive offensively and attack the basket," he said. "Our aggression wasn't there in the first half. We just didn't play with a lot of energy."

Fairhope coach Robby Robertson said the Trojans' nine-senior deep roster  makes it hard to match up for four full quarters.

“They are long and strong and fast and obviously have played together for some time. But I’m proud of our guys. They fought hard, but I was very proud of our competitive spirit.

Sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t show the whole story. Daphne has a very experienced team and deep bench and we have a young team so we have to learn from this experience because we have to play other teams like that and we will see them again.”