PELLSTON - Mar. 15, 2010 - The Cedarville Trojans proved to be as good as advertised Monday night, as Hale was unable to keep up with the state D powerhouse in a 71-52 regional semi-final loss.

“Cedarville is a real good team, the best we played all year long.” said Hale coach Ryan Parkinson . “I thought we did a real good job against their press, but we struggled to find our game in their style of play.”

The Trojans, who have won four consecutive regional titles, a state title in 2007 and a finals appearance in 2009, have become well known for their frantic style of play. On defense, they douse their opponents with a heavy full court press. On offense, they race down the court, looking for the first available shot, quite often a long range 3-pointer.

“It's a style of basketball that we don't see,” Parkinson said. “Their possessions are about 10 seconds long. We knew it was coming but to really try to ingrain fully it in the kids in one day (proved hard).”

The Eagles held their own for most of the first quarter, as Eddy Cadwell and Christian Moody each hit treys in the period to keep Hale in the game at 21-13.

A 3-pointer to start the second quarter by Tanner Shellenbarger cut the score to 21-16. After a Cedarville basket, a layup by Christian Mudry cut the lead to five again at 23-18.

However, this would be close as the Eagles could get as the Trojans rattled off a 21-6 run to end the half with a 44-24 advantage. Cedarville's Andy Jaroche did most of the damage, scoring 11 points during the run.

“We couldn't find a way to stop the Jaroche kid,” Parkinson said. “We couldn't find a way to get a basket. It was a bad quarter of basketball for us.”

The Eagles managed to slow down the Trojans slightly in the third quarter, holding Cedarville to 18 points, but were only able to account for seven of their own as Hale ended the third down 62-31.

“We came out and decided we were going to have to be more aggressive defensively,” Parkinson said. “We went to our trap, we played it hard and we attacked a little bit better on the offensive end in the second half.”

Proving they had plenty of fight left, the Eagles chipped into the Cedarville lead in the fourth, using seven points Christian Mudry and five points from Shellenbarger, with sophomore Aaron Anderson coming off the bench for a spark to score another five points.

“It is a tough way to end, but I am so proud of the way we competed all the way to the end,” Parkinson said. “We had a real good fourth quarter and that really shows the character of this group of young men. This whole team has competed all year long.”

The Eagles were led by Mudry with 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the floor, five rebounds and five steals. Shellenbarger had eight points and two steals, with Anderson, Moody and Ben Katterman each scoring five. Evan Caverly had four rebounds and five steals.

Hale ends its season with a 21-3 record, but not before earning its first district title since 2003 and a share of their second consecutive North Star League title.

“They have been a great group to coach,” Parkinson said. “They have been a positive on and off the basketball floor, in our community and in our school. I know the Hale community is very proud of this group of young men. These seniors have had a great career here at Hale.”