-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Cade Westerhoff of Fort Dodge shoots over Marshalltown on Tuesday

Willie Williams will be the first to admit his Fort Dodge boys basketball team was embarrassed by ugly losses to arch rivals Mason City and Marshalltown earlier this season.

For the second consecutive game, the Dodgers did something about it here on Tuesday.

A spirited fourth-quarter rally brought Fort Dodge back from a double-digit deficit in the second half, and after forcing overtime with a late basket, Williams’s squad took total control in the extra session of a 58-52 victory over the Bobcats.

Senior guard Carter Woodruff led the way with 19 points, with classmate Cade Westerhoff adding 14 in the win.

The Dodgers (4-11 overall, 2-5 in the IAC North) suffered a 56-31 setback in the Roundhouse right before Christmas, but turned the tide on the Bobcats (4-11, 2-4) in a big way down the stretch last night. Despite trailing 35-23 midway through the third quarter and by eight points heading into the fourth, Fort Dodge kept chipping away and stayed within striking distance in a tense final few minutes of regulation.

Down 49-47 with four seconds left, Westerhoff hit freshman Reggie Pederson on a backdoor cut for an FDSH basket to force the extra stanza. It was all Dodgers from there, as they held Marshalltown without a single field goal in the four-minute OT.

“Just a great team win for our guys,” Williams said in the aftermath of a loud postgame locker-room celebration. “Loved seeing the effort and the fight.

“Defense wins games, and our defense got it done (Tuesday). We played hard and played together. Like Mason City (a 44-39 road victory last Friday after getting routed by 43 points by the Riverhawks here earlier this month), we had our pride and our toughness challenged. We came out and hung around long enough, then got the job done at the end. And it was because we got good minutes from a lot of different players.”

Woodruff made all four of his shots in the first half to keep Fort Dodge afloat and was 7 of 10 overall from the field. Ten of Westerhoff’s points came after halftime, and all eight of Pederson’s were after the intermission — including two big buckets in overtime.

Bobcat junior standout Kyle Smith — who averages nearly 20 points per contest — was just 4-for-16 from the floor and finished with 11.

The Dodgers, who commit over 17 turnovers a night, had only 10 on Tuesday — and just three in the second half and OT combined.

“Carter played a great overall floor game, and Cade’s defense was maybe as good as it’s been in his three years (at the varsity level),” Williams said. “We got two big shots from Tayven (Altman in the fourth period) and one from Hayden (Zuspann).

“(Taevon) Feeley had (three field goals) in the third (quarter) when we needed some offense. Reggie played hard even when his shot wasn’t falling and then came up clutch. Kauner (Jensen), Tisyn (Hook) and Brody (Maehl) came in and did their jobs. That’s all we need: guys to give us productive minutes in their own way. For the second straight time out, it was all about our defense getting stops. To hold them (to three made free throws and zero field goals) in overtime shows how locked in we were to finish.”

The Dodgers have now earned back-to-back victories for the first time since 2018-19. This was also Fort Dodge’s first win over Marshalltown in nearly six years.

The Dodgers host No. 10 Ames on Friday night.

FORT DODGE 58,

MARSHALLTOWN 52 (OT)

Fort Dodge — Carter Woodruff 7-10 3-4 19, Cade Westerhoff 6-15 2-6 14, Reggie Pederson 4-8 0-4 8, Taevon Feeley 3-6 0-0 6, Kauner Jensen 1-1 0-0 2, Tayven Altman 2-3 0-0 5, Hayden Zuspann 1-6 0-0 2, Tisyn Hook 1-3 0-0 2, Brody Maehl 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-52 5-14 58.

Marshalltown — Jacob Hayes 5-9 1-2 13, Kyle Smith 4-16 1-2 11, Drake Gersema 5-11 0-2 10, LaMar Johnson 1-3 3-4 5, Jamison Niehouse 2-5 1-2 5, Adam Boone 3-4 0-0 8, Dominyc Clure 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-48 6-12 52.

Quarter scores: Marshalltown led 11-9, 25-16, 39-31. Three-point goals: Fort Dodge 3-11 (Woodruff 2-4, Altman 1-1, Westerhoff 0-1, Pederson 0-1, Zuspann 0-4); Marshalltown 6-17 (Boone 2-3, Hayes 2-5, Smith 2-8, Gersema 0-1). Turnovers: Fort Dodge 10, Marshalltown 9. Total fouls: Fort Dodge 13, Marshalltown 15.