The No. 9-ranked Dawson County High School varsity basketball team broke its two-game losing skid with an impressive 37-33 win over North Oconee last Thursday night in Bogart.

With the win Dawson moved to 15-5 on the season and 5-4 in Region 8-AA play.

The week didn’t start so well for the Tigers. The team dropped a 65-57 decision to Rabun County on Tuesday, Jan. 19 in Tiger.

The Tigers led the entire ball game, but ran out of gas in the final quarter and were outscored 28-12 to take the loss.

“We played very good, but we just didn’t have enough at the end,” Head Coach Thad Burgess said.

Dawson held, what seemed, an insurmountable lead at halftime, by 15 points.

Burgess’ team still had a 9-point advantage with 5-mintues to play, but just couldn’t hold the lead.

Rabun County holds an impressive 14-4 record. The team is currently 6-1 in region play.

The Tigers made their second long road trip of the week to face a stubborn Titan team. This time Dawson was able to play all four quarters and came away with an important 37-33 decision.

Jacob Evans had a big night offensively for Dawson with a game-high 13 points.

It was a defensive, slow-paced battle between the two teams. At halftime the score was tied 20-20.

North Oconee forged ahead in the third quarter. The team outscored the Tigers 6-2 and took a 26-22 lead.

Dawson’s offense ignited in the final quarter. The Tigers scored 15 points to the Titans 7, to give the Tigers a much-needed win.

“I am proud of our effort and how we were able to win late on the road against a quality team. Traveling to Rabun on Tuesday and then turning around and making the long trip on Thursday showed a lot of character from this team,” Burgess said.

“We have been relying on five players to play almost the entire game, the win at North Oconee was very gratifying, finishing off the game with some key offensive plays and making the free throws down the stretch,” he added.

Also adding points offensively for Dawson were: Tyler Dominy with nine points; Stephen Johnson, Levi Wilson and Stephen Scaife contributed three points each; and Logan Lewis added two points.

The Tigers will be home this Friday with another big game against Riverside Military Academy.

Dawson dropped a 47-39 decision to the Eagles a couple of weeks ago in Gainesville. Tip-off for Friday’s game will be at 7 p.m.