Head Coach Thad Burgess and his Dawson County Tiger basketball team pulled out two wins this past week against Tallulah Falls, 67-17, and Gilmer County, 58-41.
With the two victories Dawson moved to 3-1 on the season.
This will be a tough week for the Tigers as the team will play three games.
On Tuesday and Friday they will play host to White County and Creekview.
Saturday, the team will travel to Philips Arena to take on Pacelli High School out of Columbus.
The game against Pacelli will be played before the Atlanta Hawks game. The Hawks will be playing the Cleveland Cavaliers and Olympian LeBron James.
Tuesday and Friday’s game will start around 8:30 p.m., while Saturday’s game will begin at 2:45 p.m.
Dawson made the long 2-hour trip to Tallulah Falls on Tuesday night. The game was never in question. The Tigers took control early and rolled over the Indians by a 67-17 margin.
The Tigers jumped out to a commanding 29-8 lead after one quarter behind the shooting of Shelby Sanford and Blythe Chester.
Dawson continued to poor on the pressure increasing their lead to 31-points by halftime, 45-14.
Burgess cleared his bench in the second half, getting all his players in to the contest.
Sanford led all Tiger scorers with 15 points. All his points were from the 3-point arch as he nailed five long-range jumpers.
“Sanford is beginning to get in to basketball shape after being out for 3 months in a cast,” remarked Burgess.
Also scoring in double digits was Chester with 11 points in the game.
The Tigers live and die on three point shots and they didn’t leave the fans disappointed in this one. Dawson hit 14, 3-pointers against Tallulah Falls.
Eight different Tigers connected on the long-range shot.
Burgess and his team turned up the defensive pressure in the second half allowing Tallulah Falls only three points over the last two quarters of play.
Despite the running clock, due to the score, Dawson was still able to score 22 points against the Indians.
“It was good to get a positive feeling about our shooting again. I was able to play 14 players, 12 scored. It should be helpful as we play seven games over the next two weeks,” said Burgess.
Burgess also commented about Jacob Evans.
“ (I am) Very pleased how sophomore Jacob Evans has come around. He had nine rebounds and has been our most consistent player in practice and games,” Burgess said.
Tiger scorers vs. Tallulah Falls: Sanford-15, Chester-11, Ben Daniels-7, Stephen Johnson-6, Ryan Morasky-6, Jacob Evans-6, Stephen Scaife-5, Mark Dodd-5, Logan Lewis-2, Seth Stowers-2 and Grant Brown-2.
Saturday, the Tigers entertained Gilmer County at the Ford E. Phillips Gymnasium. The game was a hard fought battle that saw Dawson come out on top, 58-41.
The game was close early with the Tigers barely clinging to a 25-23 first half lead.
Two Tiger starters got into foul trouble in the very physical battle. Point guard Stephen Scaife and shooting guard Shelby Sanford picked up two quick fouls and had to sit on the bench during the first half.
Dawson’s shooting was cold early, but Jacob Evans hit back-to-back three pointers to get the Tigers going in the third quarter. Evans finished the game with 11 points and six rebounds.
Despite the offensive play of Evans, the Tigers only maintained a slim 36-33 lead after three periods of play.
In the fourth quarter, the Tigers came alive behind the shooting touch of guard Ben Daniels.
Daniels ignited the Tigers as they went on a 10-0 run early in the period to pull ahead of the Bobcats 46-33.
Gilmer never got closer than 10 points because of defensive pressure by the Tigers.
Dawson outscored Gilmer in the final quarter 22-8 to come away with the 17-point victory.
The Tigers live and die by the 3-point shot and this was the case on Saturday.
Dawson nailed nine 3’s during the game, from five different players.
Evans connected on three, Daniels and Scaife hit two each and Stephen Johnson and Ryan Morasky both hit one.
Scaife also contributed double digits with 10 points.
Scorers vs. Gilmer County: Daniels-13, Evans-11, Scaife-10, Johnson-6, Morasky-6, Blythe Chester-6, Sanford-2 and Mark Dodd-2.