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Tommy Ruzek D's up in the championship game. He led all scorers with 30 points. Connor Blum takes the ball to the hole for Howells as Matt Ulrich defends from behind.

Dodge rallies to down Howells for third straight Golden Tractor

The Dodge Gamecocks trailed by as many as 13 in the second half of Sunday's title game, but they roared back to win their third straight Farmland Basketball League championship, beating Howells 71-69.

Howells tied the game up after Trevor Blum caught a pass that bounced through a Dodge defender's legs and laid it in with 18 seconds left. The Gamecocks called timeout with 11.8 seconds left and the score tied at 69-all. 

When play resumed, Dodge point guard Casey Wisnieski brought the ball to the top of the key, where Ben Franzluebbers set a high screen. Wisnieski drove to his left and had to double clutch the ball as he met a pair of defenders at the basket, but he got the ball to bank off the glass an in with about 4 seconds left. A final desperation shot by Howells was off the mark and Dodge held on for the win after trailing most of the game.

Near the end of a back-and-forth first half, Tyler Polacek stole the ball and took it for a layup then followed with a 3-pointer to complete a 7-0 run for the Howells town team. That broke a tie and gave the Hoosiers a 42-35 lead at halftime.

The Howells lead grew to 48-35 when Justin Sindelar hit a baseline jumper 2 minutes into the second half. 

If there was a Finals MVP award, it would have gone to Dodge's Tommy Ruzek. Over a span of a little more than three minutes, he cashed in four 3-pointers, the final one cutting the Hoosier lead to 52-49. About that time Howells went cold, scoring a single point over a span of just over 5 minutes. 

With 9:54 left, Bryan Ruzek hit a 3 to give Dodge its first lead of the second half at 58-57. From that point on, neither team led by more than 2 points, setting up one of the most dramatic finishes in Farmland championship history. 

Tommy Ruzek led Dodge with 30 points on 10 3-pointers. Howells' 2-3 zone collapsed on Bryan Ruzek inside all night, holding the league MVP to 12 points, less than half of his season average of 29.5. Wisneiski added 13 points, including the game winner.

Kevin Janata led a balanced scoring effort from Howells with 14 points. Polacek added 13 points, while Connor Blum and Tyler Schwartz contributed 10 each.