Right from the opening tipoff, the competition was intense as the Dawson County boys basketball team hosted White County in a bid to continue its perfect start to the season.
In the end, the Tigers held on for a 42-38 victory to improve to 9-0 overall and 3-0 in Region 7-AAA.
Senior Gunnar Armstrong came up big for Dawson with 17 points, while senior Tyler Dominy was in double figures with 10 and senior Will Anglin added seven.
Head coach Thad Burgess was pleased with the way the Tigers found a way to win late in the game.
The name of the game in the region schedule, Burgess said is to just find wins, especially at home.
It was certainly a hard-earned win for the Tigers as the Warriors showed plenty of determination.
The amount of energy exerted on the court in the first eight minutes didnt match the result on the scoreboard as the Tigers held a slight 5-4 lead after one period.
But the offense was just getting started, with Dawson going on to an 18-10 run to push its advantage to 23-14 at the intermission.
The Warriors, who were trying to pick up their first region win of the season, would go away in the third quarter, going on a 16-8 run to cut the Dawson lead to one point.
But the Tigers hit enough key shots and outscored White 11-8 in the final eight minutes to hold on for the victory.
Burgess pointed out the role that tough defense and rebounding has played in Dawsons success, as opponents are scoring less than 30 points per game against the Tigers.
In earlier action, the varsity boys topped Schley County and Chattoochee County at the Columbus Showcase in non-region games.
Dominy and Lucas Pain were in double figures with 19 and 10 points respectively as Dawson topped Schley 66-25.
Will Anglin finished with nine points, Camron Chester had eight, and Jackson Putnam chipped in seven.
In Dawsons 67-29 win over Chattoochee, leading scorers were Armstrong with 13 points, Pain and Anglin with 11, and Jonathan Sanderson with eight.
The varsity boys will compete in the Battle of the States Tournament at Towns County this weekend before they look to an important lineup of region games in January.