The Dawson County High School varsity boys basketball team is on a three game losing streak. The three consecutive losses are a first since February of 2011.
Almost two years to the day, Dawson County has now lost games to Buford, North Hall and West Hall.
Two of the Region 7-AAA losses were to the number one seed, North Hall, and number two seed, Buford. Both teams are ranked in the top 10 in Class AAA.
"The last three losses have been tough, especially entering the tournament this week," said Tiger Head Coach Thad Burgess. "North Hall was a tough one to lose at the buzzer, but I'm really concerned about the way we played against West [Hall]. We didn't do what we normally do, which is to dive after loose balls and rebound."
In last week's final regular season home game, the Tigers dropped a tough, 39-38, decision on a last second shot by North Hall's Avery Cagle.
Cagle connected on a short hook shot over a Tiger defender at the buzzer.
Dawson County entered the final quarter leading 34-30, but had led by as many as eight, at 31-23, after starting the third quarter on a 6-0 run.
Dawson County held a slight lead for much of the contest until 28 seconds remained, at which point Cagle hit a jump shot to put North up by one point.
Tiger Tyler Dominy drove to the basket and was fouled. Dominy connected on both free throws to give the Tigers a 38-37 lead with 17 seconds remaining.
North Hall coach Benjie Wood called a time out with four seconds remaining and called the game winning play for Cagle.
Dominy led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points in the contest. Only four Tigers scored in the defensive battle. Will Anglin added nine points in the loss.
"We held North to way below their season average in scoring. I thought we did what we had to to win," Burgess said.
Coming into the contest North Hall averaged 59 points per game offensively.
Friday's game in Oakwood saw the Tigers come out on the short end of a 62-52 decision to West Hall.
The Spartans used their size advantage inside to really hurt Dawson County.
The Tigers led 26-25 at halftime, but West Hall outscored the Tigers 37-26 over the final two quarters to get the important Region 7-AAA win.
West Hall did not trail the rest of the game after capturing the lead.
The 62 points scored against the Tigers was the most Dawson County has allowed an opponent all season.
Dominy had a game-high 26 points in the loss.
Dominy scored the game's first 12 points. Camron Chester had the only other basket for the Tigers in the quarter.
Dawson County played a great second quarter, after trailing 15-14 after one period of play, behind the offensive play of Anglin.
Anglin scored five of his points in the quarter to give the Tigers a 1-point lead at intermission.
Anglin scored 10 points total in the contest.
The Spartans were led by Hunter Atkinson in scoring with 22 points.
Dawson County finished the regular season as the number three seed in Region 7-AAA.
The Tigers played White County yesterday at Buford High School in the first round of the region tournament.
Dawson County has defeated White County twice this season, 42-38 and 47-34.
Results were not available as of press time.
The Tigers finished the season with a 20-5 overall record.
"It will be a tough match-up for us. They are big inside and are good at every position. White has some depth and can score from the outside," Burgess said.
DCN regional staff contributed to this story.