PEARLAND DAWSON — The Dawson Eagles advanced to the third round of the Class 6A Region III basketball playoffs thanks to a hard-fought 58-53 win over a talented Dickson team and a 78-41 rout over the Pasadena Eagles.

Dawson (25-6) shared the District 23-6A title with Shadow Creek after both teams posted 13-1 league records.

Last season, Dawson failed to make the playoffs for the first time in school history after winning or sharing the district title for eight straight seasons. But Barre had them back on track this season after finishing 15-15 last year.

In the third round, Dawson faced a talented Atascocita (22-2) team in the 6A Region III quarterfinals.

After Atascocita built a 34-20 lead late in the second quarter, Dawson went on an 8-0 run to cut the margin to 34-28 at intermission.

The third quarter was close as Atascocita outscored Dawson 12-10 for a 46-38 advantage going into the final period.

Dawson fought hard in the final eight minutes to outscore Atascocita 16-9, but missed free throws and an end of game turn over caused the Eagles to come up short 55-54.

Dawson’s AJ Richard and Tyree Davis each had 15 points for the Dawson Eagles.