PLANTERSVILLE — The No. 1 Dallas County Hornets relied on tough defense in Friday’s 46-33 win over the Dadeville Tigers, who couldn’t get their shots to fall in the sub-regional playoff.

Willie Moore, head boys basketball coach of Dallas County (25-5, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A), said the Hornets played good defense in Friday’s hard-fought win.

“I thought we played really good defensively. Offensively, we didn’t do what we needed to do as far as execution is concerned,” Moore said. “But we’ll take a win when we can get it. They’re a very good team. We were very fortunate to get the win.”

The Hornets got off to a hot start, as they began the game on an 11-0 run that included a pair of 3-pointers by Markell Harris, as well as a three by Jerrod Moorer.

Dallas County closed the first quarter ahead 11-2, but the Tigers (19-10) started to cut into the lead, with a three by Tomas Foster and a shot in the paint by Terry Toler helping Dadeville cut the Hornets’ lead to 13-7 with 6:05 left in the first half.

Harris scored on a pair of jumpers for the Hornets and Moorer added another three to help push the lead to 21-11, but Toler hit another shot, and Nicholas Tolbert hit a 3-pointer to help Dadeville go into the half behind only 24-16.

The Tigers couldn’t get their open looks behind the arch to fall, and while they cut the Hornets’ lead to 28-21 in the third, Dallas County left the quarter leading 34-23.

Chad Martin hit a free throw and William Lee hit a mid-range jumper to help extend the Hornets’ lead to 37-24 early in the fourth.

Tomas Foster cut the lead back down to 37-26 with a tip in, but Roderic Leshore scored in the paint to make it 39-26 with 4:50 left to play.

Jessie Foster hit a three to bring Dadeville closer at 39-29, and with the Tigers in the bonus, Toler hit a pair of free throws before Anfernee Jennings scored under the basket to make it 39-33 with 2:04 remaining in the game.

But Dallas County was also in the bonus during crunch time, as they went 3 for 5 from the line down the stretch before Moorer scored on a fast-break dunk and then finished off an alley-oop from Keyonis Phillips that helped the Hornets close out the win.

Harris led Dallas County with 14 points, while Moorer had 13 points and Lee had 8 points for the Hornets.

Toler led Dadeville with 10 points, while Tomas Foster had 7 points, and Jessie Foster had 6 points for the Tigers.

With the win, Dallas County advances to the Class 4A Central Regional Tournament in Montgomery at Alabama State University’s Acadome, and will play again on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.