More so for the Dragons, who took three overtimes, but finally put away pesky Slippery Rock, 88-83, on Thursday in the District 10 4A playoff quarterfinals at the Hagerty Family Events Center.

Warren, the top seed in the eight-team bracket, built a 15-point lead midway through the second quarter, but the Rockets took advantage of miscues to close the gap. John Sabo drove to the hoop with time winding down in the first half and dished to Josh Book for a bunny at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 34-31.

“Slippery Rock did a good job getting downhill on us on offense, and our helpers didn’t rotate as well as we need to against a team like that,” said Warren coach Jeff Berdine, whose Dragons are 16-7 overall and advance to the semifinals on Tuesday.

It wasn’t easy against a No. 8 seed that only made the playoffs by winning five of six to end the regular season at 11-11.

Warren Braylon Barnes goes up for a shot in the Dragons 3-OT District 10 4A playoff quarterfinal win over Slippery Rock on Thursday at Prep’s Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie. Photo courtesy of Mark Evans

Levi Prementine’s steal and spinning bucket with 45 seconds left in the third quarter cut Warren’s lead to 47-45, and it would be a dogfight from there. He scored again less than a minute into the fourth quarter to tie the score for the first time since early in the third quarter. Warren built the lead back up then, and did again when Tommy Nyquist’s pretty dish underneath to Braylon Barnes put the Dragons up, 49-47.

Parks Ordiway hit his first of two fourth-quarter 3-pointers to up the lead to five points at 5:21 left in the game. Two minutes later, a steal led to a Brady Berdine fast-break bucket and Warren led by five points again, 56-51.

With 24 seconds left and down 56-55, Prementine hit one of two free throws to tie the score again.

Slippery Rock had not led at any point in regulation, and Warren was holding for the last shot to avoid the upset. With three seconds left, Ordiway drilled that second 3-pointer of the quarter for the highlight of the night.

That is until Slippery Rock’s Dylan Gordon hit a running 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into its first overtime.

Warren’s Tommy Nyquist goes up for a shot in the Dragons 3-OT District 10 4A playoff quarterfinal win over Slippery Rock on Thursday at Prep’s Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie. Photo courtesy of Mark Evans

Yes, first OT.

Jacob Wolak’s jumper with 2:20 to go in the first overtime was Slippery Rock’s first lead of the game. Nyquist’s driving score with time winding down would send the game into a second OT.

Warren battled to take the lead in the second overtime, and Nyquist’s two free throws gave the Dragons a 75-72 lead with seconds left. That is until Gordon hit another 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to a third OT.

Tied at 77-77 in the third overtime, Braylon Barnes connected on a huge 3-pointer from the wing, and Warren would not trail again. Nyquist’s lay-in upped the lead to five points, and after a Rockets’ score, Nyquist drove his way to two points again. Nyquist and Ordiway hit four free throws in the last 23 seconds to seal the win.

“Resilient,” said coach Berdine. “We overcame a lot of our own miscues. I have to give these guys a ton of credit. They could have folded, but they stayed in the game and battled until we finally put them away. Just seemed like neither team could be comfortable with the lead tonight after the first half and in the overtimes.”

Nyquist had 4 points at the end of regulation and ended with 19 points, including 6-of-6 at the free throw line – all in the second and third overtimes. Brady Berdine finished with a team-high 21 points and was 8-of-9 at the line. Owen Becker had 17 points and was 5-of-7 at the line. Ordiway and Barnes ended with 15 and 14 points, respectively, as the Dragons played essentially a six-man rotation, and five in overtime after Konnor Hoffman fouled out.

“We were 21-of-24 from the free throw line, which was huge for us,” said coach Berdine. “Just when you thought either team had a chance to put the game out of reach, the other one made a play or capitalized on a miscue to jump right back in it.

“I think they know tonight wasn’t their best,” Berdine said of the Dragons, “but it is something to build off of, and we still can, and need, to play better on Tuesday. We need no more motivation than playing a team in Hickory that has knocked us out the last two years.”

WARREN (88)

Ordiway 5 2 15, Berdine 6 8 21, Darling 0 0 0, Nyquist 6 6 19, Becker 6 5 17, Barnes 6 0 14, Hoffman 1 0 2. Totals 30 21 88.

SLIPPERY ROCK (83)

Prementine 7 4 18, Sabo 3 0 6, Gordan 6 8 24, Wolak 6 0 12, Book 5 8 18, Pyle 1 0 3, Kovacik 0 0 0, Parsons 1 0 2. Totals 29 20 83.

3-pointers: Ordiway 3, Berdine, Nyquist, Barnes 2, Gordan 4, Pyle.

Warren 21 13 13 12 5 11 13 — 88

Slippery Rock 10 21 14 14 5 11 8 — 83