It was a great week for the Dawson County High School varsity boys basketball team. The Tigers played well and defeatg Gilmer County 65-59 and Lumpkin County 57-43.
With the two wins Dawson County stands at 8-1 overall.
Playing before a hostile crowd in Ellijay, the Tigers fell behind early, 13-11 after one quarter of play. Dawson used its patented 3-2 zone to hold the Bobcats to only 11 second quarter points, while taking a 28-24 halftime lead.
Dawson has been the nemesis for Gilmer County. The Bobcats are 7-2 on the season with both losses coming at the hands of the Tigers. Earlier in the year, Dawson won 55-48.
"We played extremely well on the road in a game that stayed between one and four points most of the fourth quarter," said head coach Thad Burgess.
Tyler Dominy, Will Anglin and Bruce Clark scored in double digits with 23, 12 and 11 points respectively. Also scoring for Dawson County were: Camron Chester - 8 points; Jonathan Sanderson and Gunnar Armstrong with 4 points each; and Lucas Pain contributed 3 points.
Joe Bob Charles led Gilmer with 18 points.
Lumpkin County was the Tigers' opponent for Friday's game.
The two teams haven't played each other in a regular season game since 2006.
The Tigers were able to get through some first half foul trouble to come away with a 17-point win over the visiting Indians.
In front of a packed house at the Ford E. Phillips gymnasium, the Tigers finally put the game away in the fourth quarter by outscoring Lumpkin 18-10, to take the win.
Dominy had a huge fourth quarter. He scored 14 points in the final quarter. He finished with a game-leading 18 points.
Burgess says that fan support has played a role in the Tigers' success.
"Many people felt like Friday night's crowd was the biggest crowd to ever watch a home Dawson County game. We also played in front of a full house at Gilmer and handled the pressure very well. We are getting tremendous support from our students and community. Everyone seems to really appreciate the way this team has played," Burgess said.
Dominy, Clark and Lucas Pain all scored in double figures for the Tigers. Dominy finished with 18 points, while Clark had 13 points, and Pain finished with 10 points.
Tigers' scorers: Dominy - 18 points, Clark - 13 points, Pain - 10 points, Jonathan Sanderson - 1 point, Will Anglin - 8 points, Jackson Putnam - 5 points and Camron Chester - 5 points.
Devonte Anderson led Lumpkin County with 14 points.
"I'm really proud of how we have played to this point. We are getting more contributions every game from more players," Burgess said.
The Tigers will play in the Battle of the States Tournament at Towns County High School Dec. 27-29.
Dawson's first game of the tournament will be at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 27 against Murphy, N.C.