It was a slow start for the Tigers last Tuesday night, and after getting behind in the first quarter, the Dawson County High School boys basketball team was unable to get within 10 points of their opponent for the rest of the night.
Following the 94-91 thriller on the road over the East Hall Vikings earlier in the season, Dawson County's Jan. 30 night performance fell short of expectations. In a disappointing 74-49 blow-out, the Tigers took a tough loss in the last home game of the season.
Strong performances from stars like the Vikings’ Luke Cooper contributed to the Tiger's Tuesday night defeat. On the night, Cooper scored 18 points.
Cullen Reed, Jeremiah Crumley, Wyatt Haase, and Ryan Gallenkamp were all top scorers for the Tigers against East Hall, but it was nevertheless an offensive struggle against a determined Vikings team.
Outscoring the Tigers in every quarter of the game, the Vikings finished the fourth quarter by putting up twice as many points as Dawson County.
As Tuesday night was Senior Night, the loss to East Hall was an exceptionally bitter pill for this varsity team to swallow.
In celebration of their high school careers, the boys basketball team and other winter athletes were recognized by the high school prior to tip off. Among the basketball careers honored were Jeremiah Crumley, Ryan Gallenkamp, Wyatt Haase, Kane Pelfrey and Cullen Reed. Honored senior members of the girls Varsity basketball team included Abi Chatham, Callie Watson, Emma Brown, Kati Brady and Cady Ayers.
Following the loss, the Tigers traveled to Union County Feb. 2. The Varsity team rose up to take home the win against the Panthers in a regional rematch to end the season. The victory allowed the Senior Tigers to go out on a high note, despite a difficult streak of teams in the last few weeks.
Finishing off Union County 59-47, Dawson ended the season with a 16-8 overall record and 8-4 record in regional play. The Tigers have taken all four of those regional losses in the past two weeks, losing to Greater Atlanta Christian twice and both East Hall and Fannin County once. The Tigers ended up taking 3rd place in the 7-AAA Conference.
Union County's record changes to 16-8
with the loss to Dawson. The Panthers ended 4th in the region behind Dawson County,
a regional record of 5-7.
The Varsity boys are 3rd seed in the regional tournament and faced 6th seed Lumpkin at East Hall at 6 p.m. Feb. 6. Results were not available as of press time.
Win or lose, Dawson will host the semifinals/ finals on Friday or Saturday. Games are from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Friday. On Saturday the 3rd place games will be at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. The championship games will be at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.