MASON CITY — Willie Williams has been waiting for a game like this.

All season he has been preaching that his Fort Dodge ballclub needed to put together four quarters to earn a big win.

On Friday night the Dodgers did that for the most part, using a strong defensive balance in the fourth quarter to counterbalance a sluggish offensive output.

Oh yeah — the Dodgers also avenged a 43-point loss to Mason City.

“We talked about the last game against them,” said Fort Dodge head coach Willie Williams. “We said we can’t let that happen again — no way.”

Fort Dodge (3-11 overall) pulled out a 44-39 victory against the Riverhawks (6-5), nearly 14 days after suffering a 78-35 loss in the Dodger gym.

“It shows what happens when you put together four quarters,” Williams said. “We haven’t had a four-quarter game all year and we did that.

“We struggled shooting in the second half, but our defense picked up. This was a great road win for us.”

Taevon Feeley broke out of his shell for a career night. The Dodger junior turned in a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three blocked shots. Feeley had nine points and four rebounds at the half.

“Taevon was huge for us,” Williams said. “He had a great night. He had some great minutes and energy.”

The Dodgers took a 33-25 lead into the locker room and built a 40-29 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Both teams struggled from the field in the final eight minutes, combining for 14 points and the Riverhawks outsourcing the Dodgers 10-4.

There were only 25 points in the entire second half and the Riverhawks had a 14-11 advantage.

Fort Dodge’s only basket of the fourth quarter came on a Hayden Zuspann three with 1:20 left in the game, his third of the night.

The Riverhawks hit a three and three free throws down the stretch.

Fort Dodge did struggle from the free throw line in the final 20 seconds, going 1-for-8, but completed a couple of steals to seal the improbable turnaround.

Zuspann finished with nine points. Carter Woodruff and Cade Westerhoff had eight points each.

Tisyn Hook added four points and Kauner Jensen chipped in with two.

“Everyone played well, the guys off the bench were huge,” Williams said. “They were focused and all locked in.”

We talked about how important it was to get a good start and it showed.”

The Dodgers are back in action on Tuesday when they host Marshalltown as part of a girl/boy doubleheader. Boys will tip at 7:45 p.m.

“We have to stay focused and turn this into more than a one time thing,” Williams said. “We have to go and beat Marshalltown and we have to keep it going.

“We built our confidence. It showed (tonight) and our energy was there from the first quarter and built our confidence for the second and third quarter.”