The Dawson County varsity boys basketball team is off to a great start. Head Coach Thad Burgess' Tiger team won two big games last week to start the season with a 2-0 record.

Despite losing four starters to graduation and losing the team's starting point guard, Jonathan Sanderson, to a knee injury, the Tigers came away with a 60-35 opening night victory over Pickens County High.

Dawson County then turned around and traveled to Pinecrest Academy on Friday night and won 72-55.

The Tigers led from the start and outscored the Dragons in each quarter to cruise to the win.

Lucas Pain recorded a double-double against Pickens with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Jackson Putnam, 20 points, and Cameron Millholland, 10 points, joined Pain in scoring in double digits. Also scoring for Dawson County were Levi Whitmire- five points; Sam Muenchen - three points, JT Eggert and Terrell Dawson contributed two points each.

"I was very pleased with our first game. We played intense and had great effort," Burgess said. "I liked how we are learning the match-up zone and I thought it gave Pickens trouble. We were consistent all four quarters and had few lapses. I was extremely proud of how are kids reacted to their first game."

Dawson dominated the boards. The Tigers out-rebounded Pickens by a 38-20 margin.

On Friday, Dawson County jumped on Pinecrest Academy early and led 21-9 after one quarter of play.

Even though the offense was stagnant in the second quarter, the Tigers held a 28-22 advantage at halftime.

The Tigers put the game out of reach in the third quarter, posting a 47-33 lead.

Dawson County had eight different players enter the scoring column.

Four of the players scored in double digits; led by Whitmire with 15 points. Also scoring in double digits were: Millholland-13, Pain, 12, and Muenchen with 11 points.

"It has been a while since we had four players score in double figures," Burgess said.

Rounding out the scoring for the Tigers were: Jackson Putnam - eight points; Terrell Dawson - seven points, Brandon Abbott - four points and Jackson Morgan with two points.

Sean Flanagan led Pinecrest with 13 points.

"This group plays very well as a team. They are very unselfish and they like each other doing well. We have been very consistent the first two games. It's nice to see how intense they played on the road. I believe we will get better each game as they gain playing experience," he said.

Dawson County will open Region 7-AAA play Dec. 3 at home against Fannin County.

Game time will be 7:30 p.m.