You couldn’t have wished for a better start to 2009 according to Dawson County High School Head Boy’s Basketball Coach Thad Burgess. His Tiger basketball team jumped right into the second half of their season with three big wins last week.
The biggest was against East Jackson, who many think could win Region 8-AA.
The Tigers pulled off victories against Oglethorpe County, 47-43, East Jackson, 59-54, and Sonoraville, 67-48. With the three wins Dawson currently holds a 9-3 record at the midway point of the season.
Dawson has currently won five straight ball games since being beaten on a buzzer beater by Pacelli in Philips Arena before Christmas break.
In each game there was a different hero for the Tigers.
Against Oglethorpe, point guard Stephen Scaife led the Tigers with 18 points, versus East Jackson senior guard Seth Stowers hit four long range 3-pointers for a career high 24 points, and on Saturday, against Sonoraville, it was a total team effort as nine different Tigers filled the scoring column.
The week started with a 2-hour bus trip to Lexington to face a strong Oglethorpe County (4-5; 0-1) team. The game was close throughout, with Dawson clinging to a slim 22-20 lead at halftime behind the 6-point effort from senior post player Blythe Chester.
The Tigers pulled away in the third quarter with point guard Stephen Scaife leading the offensive output with 6-points.
Dawson outscored the Patriots 14-8 to hold a 36-28 lead.
Scaife finished the game with a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Dawson milked the clock in the fourth quarter to come away with the slim 4-point victory.
“I’m very pleased with this win on the road, at a place we lost by 20 last year. Stephen played the entire game and handled the pressure and had an excellent floor game. When your point guard gets 10 rebounds that is big,” said Burgess.
Burgess also commented on his teams play, “We out rebounded a much bigger and athletic team by a 39 to 20 margin and that shows great team effort. I thought our conditioning was much better than that of Oglethorpe.”
Tiger scorers: Scaife-18; Chester-10; Seth Stowers-6; Jacob Evans-6; Kaleb Holbrook-3; Levi Wilson-3; Ryan Morawsky-1.
Friday brought the big showdown against East Jackson (5-8; 2-1) at the Ford E. Phillips Center.
The Eagles have two outstanding players in Stendrick Stephens and Kolby Gilbert. Both finished the game with 15 points each.
But it was the play of senior guard Seth Stowers that attracted the huge crowd’s attention.
Stowers scored 17 first half points as the Tigers held a close 31-30 advantage at the break.
Stowers then turned on his offensive fire power again in the fourth quarter with 7 big points, as Dawson pulled away for the 5-point win.
Jacob Evans also had a big night for the Tigers. Evans finished the game with 10 points and 8 rebounds.
“We tried to speed it up on offense. I thought we handled their pressure really well. Our zone match-up really gave them problems,” said Burgess.
Tiger Scorers: Stowers-24; Evans-10; Ben Daniels-6; Blythe Chester-6; Scaife-7; Morawsky-2; Mark Dodd-2; Grant Brown-2.
Saturday, the Tigers faced non-region foe Sonoraville.
Sonoraville came into the contest with a 2-10 record. Dawson ambushed the Phoenix and came away with a huge 67-49 win.
The game was never in jeopardy for the Tigers. Dawson held a commanding 32-12 lead at the half.
The Tigers extended the lead to 30 points in the third quarter. The big lead gave Burgess the chance to play his bench much of the third and fourth quarters.
Nine different Tigers scored in the game, led by Stowers, Scaife and Chester with 17, 15 and 10 points respectively. Jacob Evans also had a solid game with 9-points and 7 rebounds.
Tiger Scorers: Stowers-17; Scaife-15; Chester-10; Evans-9; Daniels-4; Morawsky-4; Dodd-2; Johnson-4; Holbrook-2.
E-mail Pam Jacobs at sports@dawsonnews.com.