The Rockets, led by Guy Anthony, went on an 8-0 run late in the fourth quarter to upend the Dragons 58-53 at Joseph A. Massa Gymnasium.

“We made mistakes, but they’re fixable,” said Warren coach Jeff Berdine. “For a young group, first region game, I’ll take it.”

Anthony gave the Rockets (4-1 overall, 1-0 Region 6) a 52-51 lead with 4:22 remaining and his two free throws with 1:12 to go made it a 3-point game.

The Dragons (2-3, 0-1) had a chance, but Elijah Perez took the ball away from Tyler Gustafson with 30 seconds left and went in for a layup to seal the win for the visitors.

Warren’s Mitch Grosch fires a pass during Tuesday’s game.

Peyton Barnes’ jumper with 4:45 to go gave Warren a 1-point, lead, but they didn’t score again until Tom Bablak’s jumper with five seconds left, but by that time it was too late.

“We just have to be a little bit more polished offensively in terms of our execution,” Berdine said. “Too many times we didn’t get guys the ball when they were open. We made the pass, but it was there late.”

The Dragons had two other chances inside of two minutes, but a potential go-ahead shot by Barnes was ruled a travel and Ben Berdine came up just short on a move to the basket that would have given the Dragons the lead.

“We had opportunities,” coach Berdine said. “Peyton gets called for that travel and then Ben has that 2-footer. When you get those opportunities late in the game against good teams, you have to take advantage. And they’re a good team, very solid in our region.”

The Dragons jumped out a 12-2 lead early, but Titusville clawed its way back to within one by the end of the first quarter.

The two teams continued to trade blows for three quarters, with neither team leading by more six until Titusvlle’s surge at the end of the game.

Barnes hit a 3 to put Warren up 15-11, but the Rockets rattled off a 9-2 run to re-take the lead.

Warren followed with a surge of its own, capped by a 3 from Ryan Rafalski and a layup by Mitch Grosch to send them into the locker room up 26-22.

“I thought we left a lot of points on the board offensively and allowed them to get back into the game,” coach Berdine said.

The Dragons led by as many as six in the third quarter after a Bablak bucket and by four, 45-41, going into the fourth when Gustafson beat the buzzer with a layup.

That’s when Anthony and Laird Stover took over, however.

The duo hit three 3’s in the first 1:15 of the fourth quarter to spark the Rockets.

“Defensively, I thought we were good until we didn’t make an adjustment to the zone when they ran the shooter to the corner,” coach Berdine said. “We didn’t do a good enough job rotating on two straight possessions. That’s going to happen in basketball.”

Anthony, one of the top returning players in Region 6, scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half to lead three Rockets in double figures.

“Anthony hurt us in the second half,” coach Berdine said. “That’s the main reason we tried to stay in zone as long as we did. And then when he went outside he knocked down a couple of big shots.”

Bablak, Grosch and Barnes all had 11 for the Dragons, while Berdine added 10. Grosch also had six steals, Berdine six rebounds, Bablak five assists and Rafalski four assists.

“I thought Ryan, Bryce (Blair) and Drew (Swanson) all did a good job defensively,” coach Berdine said.

J.T. Blum scored 12 points to lead a very balanced JV effort in a 52-26 Dragon win.

The grind of region play is now in full swing, as the Dragons travel to Edinboro on Friday to take on General McLane.

“I was proud of the effort tonight,” coach Berdine said. “With this group, I’m not ever going to have a situation where we’re not getting effort.”

– – –

TITUSVILLE (58)

Perez 2-2-2-6, Roberts 0-0-0-0, E. Colon 3-4-4-11, W. Colon 1-1-2-4, Anthony 7-6-6-22, Stover 3-4-4-12, Evans 1-0-0-3, Totals 17-17-18-58

WARREN (53)

Arnold 1-1-2-4, Berdine 3-3-4-10, Bablak 5-0-2-11, Grosch 5-0-0-11, Barnes 3-4-4-11, Rafalski 1-1-2-4, Gustafson 1-0-0-2, Swanson 0-0-0-0, Blair 0-0-0-0, Totals 19-9-14-53

By Quarters

Titusville 11 11 19 17 – 58

Warren 12 14 19 8 – 53

Three-point FGs: Titusville (7) – Anthony 2, Stover 2, Evans, E. Colon, W. Colon; Warren (6) – Arnold, Rafalski, Berdine, Bablak, Grosch, Barnes

– – –

JV

TITUSVILLE (26)

Perez 5-1-5-12, Titus 1-0-0-3, Knapp 1-1-2-4, Beach 2-0-0-5, Wheeling 1-0-0-2, Blakeslee 0-0-0-0, Thomas 0-0-0-0, Schenberg 0-0-0-0, Neely 0-0-0-0, Saxton 0-0-0-0, Totals 10-2-7-26

WARREN (52)

Ordiway 4-0-0-9, Borger 3-1-3-7, White 0-1-2-1, Rich 1-0-0-2, Lyon 0-0-0-0, Blum 5-1-3-12, McMeans 2-1-2-5, Vega 2-0-0-4, Arford 0-0-0-0, Blair 3-0-0-6, Darling 1-1-2-3, Greene 1-1-4-3, Totals 22-6-16-52

By Quarters

Titusville 5 7 7 7 -26

Warren 13 18 9 12 – 52

Three-point FGs: Titusville (4) – Perez, Titus, Beach, Knapp; Warren (2) – Ordiway, Blum