Euless Trinity couldn’t sustain a first-half lead over No. 1 Duncanville, but the Trojans’ season was unexpected by many.

The Trojans were in the regional tournament for the first time since 1996, but their Cinderella season ended on Friday to the Panthers, 71-50, in a Class 6A Region I semifinal at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center.

“No one thought we’d go this far,” said senior Andre Nunley, Trinity’s leading scorer this season.

Duncanville (29-7) advances to its first regional final since 2009 to face No. 2 Guyer (32-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the WGC.

“No one thought we’d beat Tascosa or North Crowley, so it’s been a humbling process and I’m glad I could do it with my brothers in my last year,” said Nunley, who finished with a team-high 11 points with five rebounds.

Trinity (22-11) came out strong with the first eight points that included back-to-back 3-pointers from Nunley and Marcus Ervin. Jaxson Kapellusch’s layup made it 10-1 with 3:59 in the opening period. Kapellusch and Keanu Hill added two more field goals to give Trinity a 14-10 edge after one.

The Trojans went up 21-13 with 6:07 left in the half after buckets by Nunley and Ervin, who scored eight, and a trey from Kameron Dancy. Eugine Ogaro, who also added eight, drained another Trinity three for a 24-18 lead, but it was all Duncanville from there.

The Panthers scored on the following possession when Damon Nicholas picked up two-straight offensive boards and finished it in the paint. Texas Tech signee Jahmius Ramsey recorded one of his three dunks in the first half and a field goal with 3:35 left in the second quarter gave Duncanville its first lead at 25-24.

The Panthers never trailed again.

“We knew going in that they were going to pressure us,” said Trinity coach Mark Villines, who’s been with the program the past 16 years. “It’s a little different than North Crowley, they’re more up tempo. We started great, but I wish we could’ve sustained it. We had four big turnovers in the second quarter that all led to buckets and gave them that separation. A team like that, going up 9, 10 points, it’s hard to come back on them.”

Duncanville extended its 35-28 halftime lead to 17 thanks to a 14-4 run. Micah Peavy led the Panthers with a game-high 23 points and eight rebounds. Ramsey added 14, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.

“If you asked me at the start of the season if this would be the group of kids to do this, I probably would’ve said no, but they’re the perfect example of a team,” Villines said. “They’ve done nothing but bust their tails off all year long.”