In their lowest scoring game of the season, the Dawson County Tigers needed all 32 minutes against the North Hall Trojans on Dec. 14 as they overcame a staunch defense to emerge with the win by a final score of 46–36.

Juniors Jasper Gibson and Eli Burruss opened the scoring for the Tigers with quick shots from the 3-point line to give the Tigers the lead in the opening minute.

North Hall responded with 3-pointers of their own from Josh Cook and Luke Gunter to tie the game midway through the period.

Defense ruled the remainder of the first as neither team was able to penetrate the lane and found more rim than net from the outside.

With a 1-point lead at the beginning of the second period, North Hall made every effort to control the game and keep the ball away from the Tigers.

“North Hall tried to control the tempo of the game,” said Head Coach Chad Pittman. “They did a good job with that, obviously, credit them for that.”

Despite the keep-away game, seniors Luke Chism and Ahmad Kamara found success underneath the basket to add points to the board alongside Gibson and Burruss.

The Tigers outscored the Trojans 10 -8 in the second period to flip the tables and take a 1-point lead into halftime.

Tate Adkins, junior, dropped a dime from 3-point range and Chism and Burruss found a tiny bit of room inside to open the third, but the two teams continued the defensive battle through the quarter as baskets came in short supply, with neither team hitting double digits.

Holding onto to a meager 28–26 lead as the final period dawned, Dawson County continued to struggle with accuracy while the Trojan’s Cook and Gunter found early success to take back the lead for the Trojans at the midway point of the quarter.

Chism responded by aggressively attacking the net, drawing a series of fouls from the Trojans that allowed him to put up 5 uncontested points and finally opened the outside shooting lanes for Burruss, who finished the game with a team high 15 points, was able to sink two 3-pointers to put the Tigers back in front as the clock dwindled to the end.

With the lead and time on their side Dawson County played their own game of keep-away for the final minute of the game and held off the Trojans to secure the victory by a final score of 46–36 and moved to 2–1 in regional play (7–2 overall).

“We’ve got to take care of business in these regional games,” Pittman said. “One game can make all the difference.”

The Tigers hosted their regional rivals, the Lumpkin County Indians, on Dec. 18. Results were unavailable as of press time.

The Tigers will wrap up the pre-Christmas schedule with Alumni Night on Friday, Dec. 21 in a game against the Pickens County Dragons. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. and former players and cheerleaders from every decade of Tigers will be honored in between the night’s games.

Any and all former members of the Dawson County basketball or cheer programs will be able to attend the games free of charge and are encouraged to send their name and year of graduation directly to Coach Chad Pittman at cpittman@dawson.k12.ga so that they may be formally recognized during the celebration.