ASHBURN- The Dooly County Bobcats defeated the Irwin County Indians in a close game on Thursday afternoon at the Turner County Christmas Tournament.

The Indians scored the first points of the game, but the Bobcats used a quick 7-0 run to take the lead. The defense was the key for Dooly County for the remainder of the first quarter as they only allowed Irwin to score five more points in the quarter. Shamon Zanders, Jarquavius Brown, Zeff Felton and PJ Taylor all scored for the Bobcats in the first quarter, and Dooly County led 12-7 at the end of the quarter.

The Indians then used the three-point shot to get back in the game in the second quarter. Irwin outscored Dooly 18-14 in the quarter to cut the Bobcat lead to 26-25 going into halftime.

Irwin kept their hot shooting from long range going in the third quarter with several more three-pointers. Jarquavius Brown kept the Bobcats in the game with 15 points in the quarter. Zeff Felton scored the other four points for Dooly County in the third quarter. The score was tied at 45 entering the fourth quarter.

Several big scores from Zeff Felton helped the Bobcats stay in the game in a back and forth final quarter. Irwin led 59-57 with just over a minute to play in the game before Brown scored to tie it up with about a minute remaining in the game. After a big defensive stop, Brown assisted Zeff Felton for the go ahead score, which put Dooly up 61-59 with about 40 seconds left in the game.

The Bobcats then came up with another big defensive stop and Brown hit a couple of free throws to put the game away for a Dooly County win. Jarquavius Brown led the Bobcats with 32 points in the game. Zeff Felton finished second in scoring with a total of 17 points, while Reggie Smith and Shamon Zanders both finished with six points.