The possession came off — what else — a loose-ball tieup with the arrow favoring Warren.

Warren played with a 17-9 first-quarter lead and then a deficit in the second half before a 12-8 fourth quarter for the Region 5 win.

“Nineteen turnovers kept it close,” said Warren coach Jeff Berdine, whose Dragons are 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the region. “Holding (Will) McMahon to seven points was huge. He’s a talented player — one of the best in the region. We had to be physical and not let their best player beat us.”

Thrift and Leihden Wotorson had 6 points apiece in Warren’s big first quarter, and Logan Crissey and Chase Sitler hit first-half 3-pointers, but Oil City stormed back. Chase Melat scored 12 of his game-high 23 points in the Oilers’ 19-11 second quarter to tie the game at halftime.

Photo by Mark Evans Warren’s Grady Corey shoots on Tuesday in the Dragons’ 48-45 Region 5 win over Oil City at Warren Area High School.

“I also thought the guys did a much better job on Melat (one field goal, four free throws) in the second half,” said Berdine. “Three quarters of single-digit points is how we stacked this ‘W.’ Defense has to be able to get stops when the offense isn’t clicking.”

Crissey led Warren with 19 points spread across all four quarters, Thrift added 9, Wotorson 8, Sitler 6, Tage Wyman was 4 for 4 at the free-throw line, and Grady Corey had a big fourth-quarter putback.

OIL CITY (45)

Melat 8 4 23, Heise 2 0 4, Stinson 2 0 5, Singleton 2 0 4, Jones 0, Dasher 0, McMahon 3 0 7, Fink 1 0 2. Totals 18 4-6 45.

WARREN (48)

Thrift 3 2 9, Sitler 2 1 6, Wotorson 4 0 8, Crissey 8 0 19, Eaton 0, Zdarko 0, Wood 0, Wyman 0 4 4, Corey 1 0 2. Totals 18 7-7 48.

3-point goals–Melat 3, Stinson, McMahon, Thrift, Sitler, Crissey 3.

Oil City 9 19 9 8 — 45

Warren 17 11 8 12 — 48