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Tigers break losing streak
Take down Banks County, team now 11-6
Varsity Boys Bball pic 1
Tiger point guard Stephen Scaife scored 12 points in a loss to Rabun County last Tuesday. - photo by Photo/Pam Jacobs

Head Coach Thad Burgess and his Dawson County varsity basketball team broke a three-game losing streak with a huge Region 8-AA win over Banks County last Friday night.

  

The Tigers came away with a 44-42 victory over the Leopards.

  

With the win, Dawson moved to 11-6 overall, while Banks dropped to 12-6. The Tigers are 1-2 in sub-region play and 5-2 in the region overall.

  

Jacob Evans led the Tigers in scoring with 9 points in the low scoring affair.

Quintin Lovelace scored 13 points for the Leopards.

  

It was a see-saw battle with the Leopards. Banks had a strong first half, and led 27-22 at the half. But once again, it was the Tigers’ 3-2 match-up zone that stopped the Leopards in the second half and allowed only 15 points total.

  

Evans nailed a 3-point shot with 47 seconds remaining to get Dawson over the top.

  

Burgess remarked about the game, “We just competed against each other in practice on Wednesday and Thursday in every drill. Each drill had a winner and a loser. I was trying to get them to keep competing until the end, it seemed to have paid off.”

  

Tiger Scorers: Evans-9; Chester-7; Stowers-6; Scaife-6; Holbrook-5; Ryan Morawsky-4; Stephen Johnson-2; and Levi Wilson-2.

  

Earlier in the week Dawson fell behind Rabun County, 18-2, in the first quarter.

  

The Tigers kept fighting in the second quarter eventually tying the game on a 3-point shot by Kaleb Holbrook as the buzzer sounded, to make the score 27-27.

  

The Tigers came out of the dressing room ice cold, scoring only 7 points while the Wildcats were lighting it up offensively scoring 18-points to take a 45-34 lead.

  

Dawson put forth a strong effort in the fourth quarter, but the slow start and the energy needed to come back were too much.

  

The Tigers lost by a 61-52 margin to the Wildcats.

  

“We keep digging ourselves in a hole early in the last two region games against Riverside and Rabun,” commented Burgess. “We have had to fight back in both games just to get even and once again, on both occasions, have taken a 4-point lead into the fourth quarter.”

  

The Tigers placed four players in double figure scoring with Stephen Scaife and Kaleb Holbrook leading the Tigers with 12 points each. Seth Stowers and Jacob Evans both added 11 points a piece in the losing effort.

  

Blythe Chester and Grant Brown scored 4 and 2 points respectively.

  

Casey Ricks led all scorers with 21 points for the Wildcats.

  

Burgess said, “We have to work on not turning the ball over at crucial times, which has cost a chance to win. I like the way we battle, but we must be able to take care of the ball late in games, when it gets really intense.”

  

The Tigers traveled to Fannin County Tuesday. Scores were not available as of press time.

  

The Tigers will travel to Riverside Military Academy Friday night for a 7 p.m. tip-off. Burgess and his team dropped a 70-56 decision to the Cadets a couple of weeks ago.

  

Saturday, the Tigers will travel to Coal Mountain for a match-up against North Forsyth. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. The Raiders defeated Dawson 53-38 early in the season.

  

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