The Dawson County High School Tigers traveled to Coal Mountain Tuesday, Nov. 25 for a game with rival North Forsyth.

Dawson County High School Head Basketball Coach Thad Burgess and his team shot only 21 percent from the floor during the game and came away with a 53-38 defeat.

The Tigers currently stand at 1-1 on the year.

Dawson traveled to Tallulah Falls yesterday. Scores were not available as of press time.

This Friday, Dec. 5 the Tigers will play host to Gilmer County. Tip-off should be around 8:30 p.m.

“Great atmosphere, and it was a full house over at North Forsyth,” said Burgess.

Dawson’s match-up 3-2 zone held North to only three field goals in the first half.

However, the Tigers’ inability to make a basket kept the Raiders in the game.

The Tigers only shot 10 percent in the first half and trailed by one, 12-11, at the half.

“We held them to one field goal in the first quarter, until midway through the second period. I was really pleased with our match-up zone. I think it really gave them a lot of trouble. We led the whole way up unto the last 30 seconds of the first half. We shot awful,” Burgess said of his team’s effort.

Offensively, it was a tough night for the Tigers. Not only could they not convert field goals, the team’s free throw percentage was also not very good. The Tigers were 8 for 17 from the charity stripe during the game, which is a disappointing 47 percent.

“What was frustrating about the whole thing was defensively we were holding them to one shot and they were not getting good shots. We just couldn’t get one to fall on the other end. We just didn’t shoot the ball well,” said Burgess.

Burgess’ squad kept the game close until the seven-minute mark of the third quarter. North went on a run to stretch its lead to seven, 29-22, at the end of the third quarter.

The Raiders never looked back and extended their lead to as many as 17 points before overpowering the Tigers for a final of 53-38.

“I told our guys at halftime that we were only down by one at halftime, as bad as we were shooting. I felt that one team was going to make a run and they did about midway through the fourth quarter,” remarked Burgess.

“We could have put the game away in the first half if we could have made some shots because our defense was so good. It was there first game and they had some jitters. It was the first time that we had been in a pressure situation. Our young guys just didn’t handle it well on offense,” Burgess said about his team.

“We are going to be fine. It was a good game. North should be one of the better teams that we play this year. This game will help us down the road,” he added.

Jacob Evans led the Tigers in scoring with 10 points.

Chris Smith, 13 points, and Riley Smith, 10 points, led the Raiders offensively.

Tiger scorers: Jacob Evans-10; Ben Daniels-8; Stephen Scaife-7; Stephen Johnson-6; Shelby Sanford-3; Seth Stowers-3; Blyth Chester-1.

E-mail Pam Jacobs at sports@dawsonnews.com.