Dale County let its presence known as a newcomer at the start of Andalusia’s annual invitational tournament on Thursday night.

The Warriors held their own against Brantley’s potent offense in a 64-62 close-game win over the Bulldogs.

DCHS jumped out to a 17-7 lead in the first period, but BHS went on a 9-0 run to give itself momentum going into the second quarter.

Both teams stayed at each other’s heels in the second, where the Bulldogs came out on top to lead 35-33 at halftime.

Dale County’s Trey McMillian gave the Warriors a 12-4 lead in the first after grabbing his own rebound and getting a runner to go with 3:41 on the clock.

Brantley came out of a needed timeout and got a bucket on Ken’yada Teague’s drive to the basket.

DCHS went out to its 17-7 lead when Jeffery Whatley waited for the right moment to put the ball in from under the basket.

Brantley’s 9-0 run to end the first period was aided by senior guard Wesley Person’s runner, a putback and a layup off of a steal. Teammate Kaisaun Nichols got a 3-pointer within the run to help cut the lead to 17-16 going into the second period.

Person came out firing in the second period, driving to the basket to give BHS its first lead of the game.

DCHS got the lead back on a McMillian 3-pointer and held it there until Brantley’s Stefan King and Person made two quick baskets for a 27-26 lead.

Person got a steal and converted for a 31-26 lead, and the Warriors then went on a 5-0 run to tie it 31-all after a short timeout.

Person gave BHS its 35-33 lead at the break on a patient drive in the paint.

The contest stayed back and forth in the third period, where BHS led 44-37 with more than four minutes to go.

The Bulldogs took a 51-45 lead going into the fourth, where it evaporated with about 3:30 to go in the game.

At this point, BHS’s lead was cut to 57-56 after Whatley drove the lane for the Warriors.

King made a jumper, and later made a sweet pass to Teague on the inside for a BHS 60-57 lead.

Crawford answered the nice pass play with a 3-pointer to tie it at 60-all.

With the game tied at 62-all, Person put up a missed shot on a fade away, but the rebound landed in Crawford’s hands. The DCHS guard drove the court and was fouled. He went on to make the two foul shots, and the Warriors closed out the game on a Shun Crossley block that would’ve tied the game for the Bulldogs.

The biggest lead any team had was by 10 points in the first period.

Person led BHS with 29 points.

Jamarius Henderson and Whatley led DCHS with 17 points each. McMillian had 14 points.

Dale County plays Luverne tonight at 6. Brantley gets a bye today and will next play the winner of the Opp-Red Level game at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday in the consolation game.