The Dawson County High School varsity boys' basketball team is getting hot at just the right time. Coach Thad Burgess' team is currently on a three game winning streak headed into the Region 7-AAA tournament to be held this week.

With the three wins, Dawson County secured the No. 2 seed in the tournament and was scheduled to play host to No. 7 North Hall Tuesday. The game was set to follow the first round match-up between No. 3 East Hall and West Hall, which was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Scores were not available as of press time.

The No. 1 seed, Buford, is scheduled to host the other two games on Wednesday. No. 4 White County and No. 5 Banks County were scheduled to play at 6 p.m., followed by Buford and No. 8 Fannin.

All games were also tentative due to the possibility of inclement weather.

Last week started with a Feb. 4 match-up with the Trojans in Gainesville. The game was close in the first half as North Hall gave the Tigers a battle.

Dawson County held a slim 28-26 after the first two quarters.

In the third quarter, neither team mustered much offense with both teams scoring just five points each.
The Tigers pulled away in the final quarter and outscored North Hall 18-13 to get the 51-44 victory.

Cameron Millholland and Sam Muenchen led Dawson County in scoring with 13 points each. Levi Whitmire added 10 points in the win.

For North Hall, Carson Heinen and Brock Wingo each had 10 points.

On Feb. 7, the Tigers played host to a hot West Hall team. Once again the game was tight in the first half with the score tied at halftime 18-18.

But Dawson County came out of the locker room on fire in the third quarter and opened up a 39-26 advantage.

The Tigers continued the pace in the final eight minutes to come away with a 57-37 win.

The night was also homecoming night for the Tigers. Crowned homecoming queen was Allison Honea. The homecoming king was Jonathan Sanderson.

Tigers Whitmire and Millholland carried the team on the offensive end with 20 and 16 points respectively.

Hunter Atkinson, a University of Georgia football signee, scored 12 points to lead the Spartans.

The Feb. 8 game in Dawsonville was a make-up game from a couple of weeks ago. The Tigers used a huge fourth quarter, outscoring the Leopards 19-10, to come away with a 53-38 win.

Lucas Pain led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points. Following Pain in scoring were Sanderson and Cameron Millholland with 10 points each.

The Leopards were led by Gatlin Boswell with 14 points.

It was also senior night for the Tigers. At the end of the game Burgess recognized seniors: Sanderson, Millholland, Pain, Muenchen, Jackson Putnam and Terrell Dawson.

Dawson County finished the regular season with a 19-6 overall record and a 10-4 record in Region 7-AAA.

"Wow, what a gigantic week for us," Burgess said. "Winning the last three games and then getting a No. 2 seed at home is something I never could have imagined. Our defense and rebounding for three straight games was key. All three teams we faced this week like to push the ball up court, and we were able to hold them to an average of 40 points, pretty much their low games for the year. Our intensity and effort was key to taking the games over in the third and fourth quarter in each of these games."

Dawson County defeated North Hall twice during the regular season, 52-43 in overtime earlier in the season and 51-44 last week.