The Dawson County High School varsity boys basketball team is picking up steam at just the right time. The Tigers picked up two big wins last week to push their overall record to 15-8 as the team gets ready for Region 8-AA tournament play this week.

Dawson will open the tournament with East Jackson in the first round today at Hart County High School. Scores of the game are not available at press time. If the Tigers can survive the first round they will play #1-seed Hart County on Thursday of this week with tip-off scheduled for 8:30 p.m.

“I know our kids will battle during the tournament,” said Head Coach Thad Burgess. “This past week was a true testament to that.”

The Tigers pulled an upset over the AA #9-ranked Union County Panthers in Blairsville on Feb. 8. Dawson sent a message to the rest of Region 8-AA that it will not be an easy target during the tournament.

Defense was a big factor during the game. Burgess’ team outrebounded the Panthers 38-21.

“We took away everything they tried to do both offensively and defensively,” Burgess said. “Our guys were totally focused.”

The Tigers allowed Union only 12 first half points, four in the first quarter and eight in the second quarter, to build a huge halftime lead, 32-12.

Burgess’ troops withstood a frantic fourth quarter rally by the Panthers to take a 50-41 win on their senior night. Earlier this season Dawson lost to Union by 22-points, 54-32.

Leading Dawson offensively was Jacob Evans with 18 points.

Also scoring in double digits was Tyler Dominy with 14 points.

Levi Wilson added 8 points; Stephen Johnson-6; Ethan Brown-3; and Kaleb Holbrook-1 point.

Friday was Senior Night for Dawson County as the team played host to Banks County.

Burgess honored six seniors: Jacob Evans, Levi Wilson, Tyler King, Ethan Brown, Kaleb Holbrook and Stephen Johnson in front of a big crowd.

“It’s going to be tough losing these six seniors,” Burgess said. “These guys have been to four straight state tournaments. They have laid the basis for future teams at Dawson County. I will truly miss their work ethic and they will be sorely missed.”      

Dawson used its defense again to totally shut down Banks County. The Tigers went into halftime with a insurmountable 29-5 lead and coasted the rest of the way. The Tigers won the game, 59-38.

Evans led the team offensively with 20 points, followed by Dominy with 15.

Several other Tiger players joined the scoring column: Jackson Putnam-5, Roman Stroud-4, Will Anglin-3, Grant Shope-3, Stephen Johnson-3, Gunnar Armstrong-2, Camron Chester-2 and Jonathan Sanderson-2.