RABBITTOWN -- For a 40-second period, it looked liked Dawson County's 13-game win streak was in serious jeopardy on Friday night against East Hall.
The Tigers' Will Anglin was called for two technical fouls and the Vikings reeled off eight straight points in 39 seconds to turn a 28-24 deficit into a 32-28 lead.
But the Vikings' momentum would not last, as the Tigers answered the challenge with an 11-0 run and then held on for a 51-43 win in a key Region 7-AAA game for both teams.
"We played through a lot of adversity and this was a big win for us," Dawson County coach Thad Burgess said. "The guys hung tough and did what they needed to do to win."
What the Tigers (14-0, 4-0 Region 7-AAA) did was play tremendous defense and outrebound East Hall (3-9, 0-4) 34-24 for the game. Leading scorer Tyler Dominy had just four points and only one field goal for Dawson County but provided perhaps the two biggest plays of the game down the stretch.
With the Tigers clinging to a precarious four-point lead (47-43) Dominy blocked two East Hall shots on consecutive possessions in the final 1:09 that led to four free throws to seal the game. Jackson Putnam would hit two free throws with 49 seconds left and Gunnar Armstrong would sink two with 25 seconds left to put the game out of reach.
"We asked (Tyler) to be more of a decoy and he did everything we asked of him," Burgess said. "We played unbelievable defense I thought. The only bad part is we won't have Anglin against Buford."
The Tigers will put their unbeaten streak on the line next Tuesday against the Wolves at home in an early-season battle for first place in 7-AAA.
Despite being ejected after his technical fouls, Anglin led Dawson County with 15 points, all on 3-pointers. Camron Chester finished with nine points and Putnam had eight for the Tigers, all in the second half.
If you like defense, the first half was for you. The Tigers opened the game with a 10-0 run on a pair of Anglin 3-pointers and two baskets by Chester while forcing two quick East Hall turnovers and holding the Vikings to 0-for-6 shooting in the first 4:48 of the game.
East Hall did not get on the board until Braden Jarrard scored with 3:12 left in the quarter to cut the lead to 10-2. The Vikings would finish the quarter on a 7-3 run to trail 13-7 heading into the second quarter.
The Vikings then displayed a little defense of their own. They held Dawson County to just one field goal over the final four minutes of the first half while Daniel McCravy would hit a 3-pointer and then a stick-back basket to pull East Hall to within 18-14 by halftime.
Both teams found their offense to start the third quarter as Anglin and East Hall's Jacquen Hopkins traded 3-pointers. The Tigers would use a quick 4-0 spurt to run out to a 25-17 lead but the Vikings answered with a 7-0 run, capped by five straight points from Holtzclaw, to trail just 25-24, the closest East Hall been the entire game to that point.
Anglin would push the Tigers' lead back to 28-24 on a long 3-pointer but on their next possession Anglin thought he was fouled on a missed 3-pointer and argued a little too vigorously with the referee.
After the Tigers big run, East Hall made one last push tying the game at 39 with 4:46 left on a Holtzclaw 3-pointer. But the Vikings committed two straight turnovers and the Tigers grabbed the lead for good with a 6-0 run.
East Hall pulled within 45-43 with 1:27 left on a Holtzclaw basket but would not score again missing its final six shots.
McCravy led East Hall with eight points. Holtzclaw and Hopkins each had seven points for the Vikings.
Thursday
May 1st, 2025
3:54AM
