Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Fort Dodge senior Tysen Kershaw drives to the basket during the regular season.

SIOUX CITY — The Fort Dodge boys basketball team made a frustrating regular season nothing more than a distant memory on Monday, as the Dodgers took full advantage of wiping the slate clean on their 2019-20 campaign with a 65-60 Class 4A substate quarterfinal victory over Sioux City West.

Senior Tysen Kershaw had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Dodgers, who embraced their second life after posting a 2-19 record against a rugged CIML slate. Junior Dayson Clayton added 19, as Fort Dodge rallied in the final three minutes from a six-point deficit to prevail.

“Toward the end of the year, we kept talking about how our record doesn’t matter once you get into the postseason,” said Kershaw, a three-year starter and the squad’s leading scorer. “As long as we kept playing together and stayed focused, we knew anything could happen.

“We’re playing like we have nothing to lose for the first time all year, and we’re going to keep this momentum going.”

The Dodgers jumped ahead of the homestanding Wolverines (11-11) early, leading 14-8 at the end of the first quarter. It was still 25-24 FDSH at halftime, but West pulled ahead in the third quarter and still maintained a two- or even three-possession advantage until Clayton knocked down a three-pointer to pull the visitors back within 55-52.

Kershaw swished a go-ahead jump shot to make it 61-60 Dodgers with 30 seconds remaining in regulation. Sophomore Monterius Altman-Abrams was then fouled after Brycen Bell grabbed a rebound on a Wolverine miss, and he calmly sank both free throw attempts to make it 63-60.

Bell knocked down a pair at the charity stripe himself to end it after West was called for a foul on a moving screen with under 10 seconds remaining.

Altman-Abrams had all nine of his points in the final period. Bell contributed eight. The Dodgers struggled at the line until the closing moments, when they put West away with eight consecutive makes.

“It’s just a huge credit to our guys that they kept battling, both in this game — being down by six or seven for a lot of the fourth quarter — and really the entire season,” FDSH head coach Tom Daniel said. “They really deserved this as a reward. It’s been a frustrating year, but they never stopped playing hard and never gave up on each other.

“We had a lot of different players step up and do what needed to be done. Tysen was aggressive and again showed he can be a game-changer defensively. Dayson hit some big shots. Two of our seniors, Brycen and Asle (Thorson), came ready and showed a sense of urgency. And Monte comes off the bench with an outstanding fourth quarter. This was kind of a throwback, old-school, get-after-it type ballgame, and our guys rallied around each other.”

Freshman Keavian Hayes had 19 points to lead the Wolverines. But their leading scorers, Marcus McCray and Chase Smith, were held to 11 and 9, respectively.

“We were faceguarding (Smith) and he didn’t get many open looks (from the perimeter),” Daniel said. “He had over 70 three-pointers during the regular season (at a 52 percent clip). We did a good job on (Kyrel) Hanks, too, who had only (one triple after making 51 treys at 56 percent this year).

“The kids showed toughness. West was obviously heartbroken. It’s not easy to get a playoff win, especially after a long road trip like this. We kept telling the team that anything can happen in the postseason. Records don’t matter now. People don’t remember what happened in Game 4 or Game 9 or Game 15. They remember how you do in the tournament.”

The Dodgers now head to Ankeny on Friday to take on the 16-5 Hawks in a substate semifinal. Ankeny defeated Fort Dodge during the regular season, 57-43.

FORT DODGE 65, SIOUX CITY WEST 60

Fort Dodge — Tysen Kershaw 8 5-8 21, Dayson Clayton 6 6-9 19, Monterius Altman-Abrams 2 4-4 9, Brycen Bell 2 2-2 8, Drake Callon 1 3-5 5, Asle Thorson 1 0-0 2, Carson Peterson 0 1-2 1, Jaheim Clayton 0 0-0 0, D’Arien Calahan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 21-30 65.

Sioux City West — Keavian Hayes 7 5-8 19, Kee’on Hutton 2 6-7 12, Marcus McCray 4 3-3 11, Chase Smith 3 0-0 9, Kyrel Hanks 2 2-2 7, Kennan Hegna 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 16-20 60.

Quarter scores: Fort Dodge led 14-8, 25-24; West led 43-37. Three-point goals: Fort Dodge 4 (Bell 2, Altman-Abrams 1, Clayton 1); West 6 (Smith 3, Hutton 2, Hanks 1). Turnovers: West 8, Fort Dodge 7.