Indians defeat Toombs County

Dodge County News, December 17, 2008

By Chad W. Smith

The Dodge County Indians basketball team won one of their three region games they played last week. The Indians came from behind to defeat Toombs County in their home opener last Tuesday, December 9 by a score of 51-49. Dodge traveled to Bleckley County on Friday, December 13 and played hard but fell short in another comeback bid 65-70. The Indians traveled to Swainsboro on Saturday, December 14 and played another tough region game and lost in the final quarter 53-43.

The Indians trailed 14-8 after one quarter against Toombs County. Cyprin Burse led in the quarter with six points. Telvin Strutchens put in six points in the second quarter as the Indians still trailed by a score of 26-17. Dodge outscored the Bulldogs 17-11 In the third quarter to pull within three points at 37-34. Calvin Nash and Telvin Strutchens each had five points to lead the Indians in the third. Dodge tied the game at 40-40 at the 6:00 mark of the fourth quarter and the game changed leads three times and was tied five times before Indian Telvin Strutchens scored with 15.5 left in the game to put Dodge up 51-49 and secure the win. Final scoring for the Indians was: Telvin Strutchens, 17 points; Cyprin Burse, 12 points; Calvin Nash, nine points; Jermayne Hamilton, four points; Javarris Gordon, three points; Tamius Lemon, two points; Herschel Anderson, two points; Leonard Floyd, two points.

In Friday’s game at Bleckley County, the Indians fell behind 14-6 in the first quarter. Telvin Strutchens scored three points to lead Dodge in the quarter. Strutchens led Dodge with six more points in the second quarter as the Indians trailed 30-14 at halftime. The Indians picked up their defense and scoring in the third quarter as they outscored the Royals 24-17 in the third quarter behind 10 points from Cyprin Burse and eight points from Strutchens. The Indians tied the game up at 59-59 with about 4:00 to go in the fourth quarter and again at 61-61 at the 3:47 mark but were outscored by the Royals 9-4 down the stretch as another comeback bid failed. The Indians lost 70-65 to the Royals. Final scoring for the Indians was: Telvin Strutchens, 30 points; Cyprin Burse, 16 points; Herschel Anderson, eight points; Calvin Nash, five points; Javarris Gordon, four points; Leonard Floyd, two points.

The Indians hung tough with the Swainsboro Tigers on Saturday. In the first quarter Dodge trailed 15-12. Telvin Strutchens led Dodge with eight points in the quarter including two three-pointers. The Indians outscored Swainsboro 14-10 in the second quarter to take a halftime lead of 26-25. Strutchens again had eight points including a three-pointer to lead the way. The Tigers took the lead back after three quarters 39-37. Herschel Anderson had four points to lead the Indians in the third quarter. Swainsboro pulled away in the final quarter by outscoring Dodge 14-6. The Indians lost 53-43. Final scoring for the Indians was: Telvin Strutchens, 20 points; Javarris Gordon, five points; Jermayne Hamilton, four points; Calvin Nash, four points; Herschel Anderson, four points; Cyprin Burse, three points; Tamius Lemon, one point.

The Indians were scheduled to travel to West Laurens on Tuesday, December 16 for a non-region game before returning home on Friday, December 19 to host Appling County and Saturday, December 20 to host Jefferson County. All games begin at 6:00 p.m.