DAPHNE—The Daphne Trojans had to defeat the McGill-Toolen Catholic Yellow Jackets last Friday to have a chance at the 6A AREA 4 title. But a 66-61 Jacket win put the area title firmly in the Baldwin County Tiger's court.

"We just didn't have the guard play we needed," said DHS coach Cedric Yelding. "That's been our problem all year. It's hard to win without good ball control. That's the bottom line and we have not been able to make good decisions out there. We need better ball handling and to be more consistent."

The loss put Daphne at 9-16 overall and 4-2 in Area 4 play and left the Yellow Jackets at 16-9, 3-3. The 6A Area 4 tournament at BCHS begins Feb. 5.

The Trojans were led by senior Michael Hobbs who scored 23 points and was recognized before the game for breaking the 1,000 point milestone earlier this season. The game-high 23 extended the four-year-letter forward's total to 1,231 points with four regular season games still to play including away game at Foley this Friday and at Baker Monday. Both are set for 7:30 p.m. starts.

"Michael's been an outstanding player and student-athlete here at Daphne and all of us are very proud of him," Yelding said.

Daphne led at the half 35-29 over the Jackets, but trailed by a point after the third quarter 44-43. McGill-Toolen extended its lead in the fourth. A three-pointer by Hobbs in the final minute closed Daphne to within five 64-57, but that was as close as the Trojans would get.

T.J. Yeldon added 12, Starling King 11 and Preston Solomon nine for DHS in the effort. Tevin Bettis led McGill-Toolen with 14. DHS was 14-of-22 at the line. The Jackets were 16-of-25.