Caldwell County will travel to Madisonville-North Hopkins on Tuesday with a chance to grab the top seed for the 7th District tournament.
The Tigers set up the winner-gets-the-No. 1-seed matchup by outdueling Dawson Springs 53-38 Friday night at the CAB gym in Princeton.
Caldwell, now 13-7 overall and 4-1 in the district, scored the first eight points of the night and never trailed.
But Dawson (11-10, 2-4) was not subdued until late in the physical battle.
Jaydarius Wilson had a game-high 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots for Caldwell.
Demaurius Thompson was right behind him with 16 points — including some key baskets to help hold the Panthers at bay.
Dawson made a run at the Tigers after falling behind by 12 points in the third quarter.
A 3-pointer from the corner by Jaydon Plunkette just ahead of the third-quarter horn, then a putback by Casey Fain 45 seconds into the fourth period had the Panthers within 38-32.
But Thompson countered with a 3 from the right wing at the other end to extend the margin to nine. A free throw by Wilson and a layup by Collin Whittington, pushed the margin back to 12 at 44-34.
A pair of 3s by Montgomery Johnston kept Dawson’s hopes alive — the last making it a 46-38 game with 2:21 to play.
However, Caldwell shut out the Panthers the rest of the way while pushing the final margin out to 15 points.
Caldwell won 65-49 at Dawson Springs a month ago.
Carter Whittington had eight points and seven rebounds for Caldwell. Collin Whittington, seeing his first action since being injured at Livingston Central Jan. 9, had six points.
Johnston led Dawson with 15 points. Rex Blue had nine points and nine rebounds. Casey Fain had 12 boards to go along with four points.
The Tigers have taken 15 of their last 16 meetings with Dawson. Caldwell leads the all-time series 99-44.
Two seeds are now set for the upcoming district tournament — Dawson Springs will be No. 3 while Hopkins County Central is No. 4.
Caldwell goes to Madisonville on Tuesday with the winner of that game taking the top seed while the loser will be the No. 2 seed.
A Caldwell game at Mayfield that was scheduled for Saturday has been rescheduled for next Saturday, Feb. 10. Mayfield will now visit Princeton on Thursday, Feb. 15.
Dawson Springs 8 12 10 8 — 38
Caldwell County 13 14 11 15 — 53
Dawson Springs (11-10, 2-4)—Johnston 15, Blue 9, Dever 7, Fain 4, Plunkette 3.
Caldwell County (13-7, 4-1)—J. Wilson 17, Thompson 16, Ca. Whittington 8, Co. Whittington 6, Parker 6.
