The Dawson County High School varsity boys' basketball team needed an extra period on Jan. 10, but the team was able to prevail 52-43 over visiting North Hall.
North Hall pushed the game into overtime with a three pointer that tied the game at 40-40 with nine seconds left in regulation.
Dawson County had a chance to win the game with 3.8 seconds to go but missed theshot, sending the game into overtime.
Coach Thad Burgess' team was down 24-20 to the Trojans at halftime in a slow paced game.
The Tigers stayed in the game in the first two quarters behind the offensive play of Jackson Putnam, who had 10 points. Putnam finished with 16 points in the contest.
Dawson continued to trail after three quarters, 31-29, as neither team could muster much offense. Putnam scored four of Dawson's nine points in the quarter.
It was the Tiger's 3-2 match zone that held North Hall at bay offensively. The defense allowed just seven points in the third quarter and nine in the final quarter.
The Tigers scored the first six points of the fourth quarter. Dawson County finally took the lead with 2:30 left in the quarter on a 3-pointer by point guard Levi Whitmire that put the Tigers ahead 34-31.
The team missed two crucial front ends of one-and-one free throw attempts at the 1:01 mark and with only 20.7 seconds remaining, which opened the door for the Trojans (4-8; 2-3).
In overtime the Tigers dominated with an opening basket by Putnam that put Dawson ahead 42-40.
The Tigers never looked back and outscored the Trojans 12-3 in the overtime period to pull out a huge win in front of a big crowd at the Ford E. Phillips Gymnasium.
"We were not smart late in regulation, missing a couple of one and ones and allowed North Hall to tie the game at the end," Burgess said about his team's Region 7AAA win.
"However, I really like how we refocused in overtime and really took control of the game. I'm very proud of our team. It was the first time any of them had been in that situation," he added.
The Tigers have now won six out of the team's last seven games.
Also scoring for Dawson County were Lucas Pain with 13 points, Cameron Millholland with 10 points, Sam Muenchen added nine points and Levi Whitmire had four points.
The Tigers were 17-for-25 from the free throw line.
Earlier in the week the Tigers traveled to Buford to face the Region 7AAA leaders.
It was not a memorable trip for Burgess' team as the team dropped a 71-57 decision to the Wolves.
The Tigers stayed close, controlling the tempo, to trail by two points at intermission 28-26. But behind the combined 28 points scored by Buford's Rakim Lubin and D'Marcus Simonds, the Wolves opened up a 59-35 lead after halftime and never looked back.
University of Connecticut bound Lubin scored 15 points and Simonds added 13 points in the dunk-filled third quarter.
Lubin finished the game with 29 points and Simonds had 23 points.
The Tigers continued playing hard in the fourth quarter to outscore Buford 22-12, but it wasn't enough as Dawson County dropped the region game.
Dawson County was led in scoring by Muenchen with 16 points. Muenchen connected on four 3-pointers. Also scoring were Whitmire and Putnam with 10 points each.
"Buford was way too big and athletic and they were able to speed the tempo up in the third quarter and we didn't respond well," Burgess said.
The Tigers are 13-4 overall and 4-2 in region play.
Up next will be a trip to Blue Ridge to face Fannin County at 8:30 p.m. Friday.
Fannin comes into the contest with a 2-11 record and the Rebels are 0-4 in region play.
Earlier this season Dawson County defeated Fannin County, 46-32.