The Oilers struck first off a layup from 6-foot-7 senior Michael Fink, but Warren’s Logan Crissey fired back with a 3-pointer of his own to take the lead. The Dragons led 15-10 after the first quarter off a combination of buckets from Allen Eaton, Landon Wood and a Crissey traditional three-point play.

The second quarter featured four 3-pointers for the Dragons, all from different players — Eaton, Lucas Thrift, Crissey and Jacob McMeans. But the Oilers would respond nicely, ultimately being down six points heading into the half.

Up 29-23 to open the third quarter, McMeans hit his second 3-pointer of the night to extend the Warren lead to nine points. Warren would go on a little run, but then the Oilers found some momentum in response. A 6-0 spurt would cut the Dragon lead to just seven points, 46-39, with one quarter to play.

The final quarter saw the Oilers put pressure on the Dragons with a full-court press. To Warren’s dismay, the press was executed perfectly. The well-oiled machine of the press breaker enabled the visitors to score another nine points in a row, for 15 unanswered to take the 48-46 lead with 6:00 left on the clock.

Photo courtesy of Mark Evans Warren’s Allen Eaton (20) is fouled by Oil City’s Isaiah VanWormer (21) during Friday’s Region 5 boys basketball game at Warren Area High School.

With the momentum shifting toward the visitors, Warren needed to regroup. Down six points at 57-54 with just 1:04 left, junior Landon Wood hit a clutch 3-pointer to tie the game at 57 apiece. The first four-minute overtime period saw the Dragons take the lead at 64-62 with just 49.6 seconds remaining off two made free throws from Wood, but the Oilers would find the basket just before time expired.

At 64-all, another overtime period was needed.

With every possession crucial, Warren took advantage and found itself up 70-66, but a forced turnover and basket got the Oilers back within two points. Another ill-timed turnover allowed Oil City to tie the game at 70-70 as time expired.

With the fans on the edge of their seats and patience growing thin, the third overtime opened with a Crissey bucket. The Oilers would kick it into another gear as they drilled a 3-pointer and forced a turnover to take a four-point lead at 76-72. Unfortunately for the Dragons, another turnover and forced fouls made the game out of reach for them, as the Oilers ran out the clock, up 85-75.

With the win, Oil City earned at least a share of the Region 5 title.

“I can’t fault the effort as I felt everyone gave max effort, but some of our weaknesses came out in full force after a hot start to the third quarter, allowing Oil City back in the game,” Warren head coach Jeff Berdine said. “We had too many turnovers and missed free throws when we had the chance to put the game away. It takes 32 good minutes to beat a team like Oil City. We just didn’t get the right 32 minutes. The first two overtimes we had the opportunities, but didn’t finish the job.”

Scoring 29 points for the Dragons was Crissey, followed by 14 from Wood, 11 by Eaton and 9 from McMeans.

Nevin Stinson dropped 28 points for the Oilers in the victory. Also in double digits for Oil City were Michael Fink with 19 and Steven Heise at 14.

The junior varsity game was possibly foreshadowing for the varsity game, as that went into overtime as well. The intensity was at an all-time high for both teams, and the Oilers came away with the narrow 43-40 win over the Dragons.

Bradey Chase had an impressive performance for the Dragons, scoring 15 points, and Max Spiegel had some nice putbacks en route to 11 points.

Mellow Jones led the way for the Oilers with 12 points.

The Dragons return to the court Tuesday when they travel to Conneaut for a Region 5 matchup. Junior varsity tips off at 6 p.m. with varsity to follow at 7:15 p.m.