The Dawson County High School Varsity Tigers basketball team battled for two quarters but couldn't hang on to the 32-31 halftime lead at Union County Nov. 25. The Tigers dropped a 76-54 decision to the Panthers.

It was the second consecutive loss for Dawson County. The Tigers are now 1-2 on the season.

Coach Casey Jones' Panther team is experienced, with nine seniors getting most of the playing time.

Union County erupted offensively in the third quarter and outscored Coach Thad Burgess' team 27-13 to take an insurmountable 58-45 advantage.

"We battled for a half, but Union has a team that has played together for quite a while and it was just too much for us to handle for four quarters," Burgess said.

The Tigers inexperience showed as they had to depend on two freshmen for offense.

Dawson County was led by ninth graders Jeremiah Crumley with 17 points, playing in his first varsity game, and Cullen Reed with 11 points.

"We are just trying to experiment and find a group that we can win with. We have been successful over the years by winning with our match-up zone, but right now we are having trouble stopping people on offense," Burgess said.

Union County was led in scoring by Hunter Hughes and Tyler Odum with 21 points each and Kyle Hamby with 11 points.

After playing three straight road games, the Tigers finally played their first home game on Dec. 2 against Rabun County. Scores were unavailable as of press time.

Dawson County lost to Rabun County 74-46 on Nov. 20 on the road.