KINGSPORT - The gritty, gutsy Volunteer Falcons gave perennial Big 8 power Dobyns-Bennett all it could handle Saturday only to fall on a last-second shot. 

D-B guard Derrick Steele's three-pointer as time expired helped the Indians escape with a hard-fought, 61-58 Big 8 victory over Todd Whittemore's scrappy Falcons.

"When he pulled up for the three, I thought, 'I like this chance better than us fouling him going to the hoop,'" Whittemore said. "Unfortunately, he proved me wrong because he just buried it. It was a great shot. That takes a lot of heart to be able to push it down in a tie game with literally a second or two to play and pull up and hit that three. That's two games in a row now that he's won with a last-second shot."

Steele had hit a last-second shot the night before to beat Morristown East, 73-71.

The Falcons battled uphill the entire game. A 10-2 run gave the Indians a 14-6 lead halfway through the first quarter, prompting a Volunteer timeout. Two free throws by Falcons guard Christian Green was followed by a 6-0 D-B run and another Falcons timeout. Volunteer closed to within 22-12 as the period ended.

The Falcons clawed back. R.J. Williams' basket with 1:09 to go, pulled Volunteer to within 30-28 with Williams at the line with the chance to cut it to one. But Williams missed and D-B closed the first half on an 8-0 run to lead 38-28 at the break.

"I didn't like the little hole that we dug ourselves at the end of the first half," said Whittemore. "With 1:22 to go, we got the ball on the break, down three. We don't find the open guy, we end up taking it wide and force the shot on the baseline. Then we give up an 'and-one'  then we have another missed trip, then we give up a three at the buzzer, and instead of going in down one or two or three, now we're down 10. That made it even harder in the end to battle back. We can't dig ourselves those kinds of holes, especially on the road.

Four free throws to start the second half gave the Indians their largest leas of the game, 42-28.

"I'm really proud of our kids. They battled back and really stuck together. They kept battling and kept playing," Whittemore said. 

Three-pointers by Devon Forgety and Cody Moore around a post by Williams cut the D-B lead to six, 42-36. The teams played even the rest of the quarter and D-B led 50-44 heading to the fourth.

Steele's only other basket of the game, a putback with 3:44 to play, gave D-B another 10-point lead, 56-46 lead.

Led by the scrappy Green, Volunteer rallied. The point guard found Forgety for a layup, then hit a three-pointer, a putback, and three of three free throws, pulling Volunteer to within 58-56.

D-B cracked Volunteer's ensuing press but turned the ball over to the Falcons, who called timeout with :28 to play. The Falcons worked the ball around and with :08 left, Forgety nailed a 12-footer to tie the game at 58.

"If we didn't make it, we wanted to foul and get it back again. Down two on the road, we're going to try to get whatever we can. We were trying to get something going to the basket but Devon was open, and he hit it," Whittemore said. "We knew if we did tie it, that they were going to push it. I had a feeling Derrick Steele was going to push it. I thought he was going to take it to the rim. He surprised me when he pulled up for a three. That was my fear, if we did score early, we've got to stop dribble penetration. Then he pulls up and makes me look like an idiot, but credit to him. I guess I'd rather see him make a three off the dribble than to get something going to the hoop."

Forgety's 17 and Green's 13 led Volunteer (2-8, 1-4), which was without 6-7 Cameron Trent, out with an injured elbow.

"We're probably not going to get him back. He might be able to come back the last week of the season," Whittemore said. "Right now, I'm just going on him not being back. We've just got to go into battle without him. We can't keep waiting for Cameron to come back. I think they've bought into that now. I think they understand that and everybody's battling and moving forward. I think we got a little better tonight."

Adam Dennison led D-B ( 9-5, 4-1) with 19.

"I'm proud of our guys. We've lost some close, tough games, but we're going to keep battling," Whittemore said. 

"We haven't figured out just how to win yet, but we're getting close. We've got great kids who are working their tails off. I'm disappointed for them, but I'm proud of the effort and I'm proud of the attitude. We're just going to keep working. We're going to become a team that people don't want to play. We may not be there right now, but that's what we're shooting for," Whittemore said.