PLANTERSVILLE — Before Thursday’s game against Demopolis, Dallas County basketball coach Willie Moore posted scores from area tournaments around his team’s locker room. He highlighted every game where a four seed, like the Tigers, upset a host team, like his Hornets, to try to show anything can happen this time of year.

If he didn’t get the point across, Demopolis delivered it home in the first four minutes Thursday.

The Tigers jumped out to a 12-0 lead and seemingly had the defending 4A state champions off balance, but Dallas County (21-5) regained its composure, stayed calm and fought back for a 65-51 win.

“They came out with a great game plan, and they just played harder than we did early on in the game,” Moore said. “We want our guys to be poised and play hard. I just don’t think we came ready to play. I told our guys before the game that if they didn’t play hard we wouldn’t have a chance to win.”

Luckily for the Hornets, it isn’t how you start; it’s how you finish.

The Hornets pulled within 14-9 at the end of the first quarter when Kendell Motley knocked in a three that beat the buzzer, but even that couldn’t spark Dallas County.

Demopolis (9-18) led the entire second quarter, as the Tigers opened back up a 26-15 lead before the Hornets closed the half on a 12-2 run to pull within one at the break.

Javaris McGuire scored 11 points in the second quarter to carry Dallas County, including three three-pointers.

In a first half where Dallas County’s leading scorers, Raheem Phillips and Jerrod Moorer, combined for just 6 points, the Hornets needed others players to step up.

“My guys played hard, and we got off to a great start,” Demopolis coach Rodney Jackson said. “I was pretty excited. I said, ‘We just have to keep this momentum going.’ They made a couple of shots at the end of the first, and we just had to match their intensity. We went into halftime with a lead so we felt good coming out in the third.”

Demopolis’ good feeling likely faded quick, as Dallas County came out of the locker room with a renewed intensity.

Just eight seconds into the second half, Dallas County took its first lead of the game on a Jerrod Moorer steal and layup. The Hornets scored the first four baskets of the third to take a 37-30 lead, but Demopolis stayed within striking distance.

Every time Dallas County threatened to run away, the Tigers made a big shot to keep pace. Charles Tripp made many of those, scoring 6 of his 15 points in the third, including a layup in the final seconds that pulled Demopolis within six.

Moorer, who scored 12 of his 22 in the third, hit a jumper to open the fourth quarter and Dallas County kept rolling from there. The Hornets scored the first six points in the fourth and 15 of the first 19 to take a commanding 17-point lead.

“They are the defending 4A state champions and that is what we expect from them,” Jackson said. “We knew the intensity was going to rise from them, and we just didn’t match their intensity — that’s all. My hat goes off to them.”

The Hornets will take on Sumter Central in Saturday’s championship game at 7 p.m. The Jaguars defeated Wilcox Central 49-44 in a game that came down to the final possessions.

“We are going to have to be clicking on all cylinders,” Moore said about his team’s upcoming game with Sumter. “They have the best athletes of anybody in our area. Our guards are going to have to be fantastic and [Lowell] Furlow is going to have be a major factor in that game.”