Warren’s Caleb Tullius (32) goes up for a layup as Morgan’s Jude Garber defends during Tuesday’s game at Warriors Coliseum. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

VINCENT — Jackson Perdue and Caleb Tullius combined for 40 points to lead the Warren Warriors to a hard-fought 59-53 overtime win Tuesday evening over the Morgan Raiders.

Warren out-pointed the pesky Raiders by a 10-4 margin in the overtime period to capture the win and improve to 8-7 on the season.

The game was a battle all night long as each time the Warriors threatened to put a bit of distance between themselves and the Joseph Marcinko-coached Raiders, Morgan would answer to either tie the game or jump in front.

“It seems like that is the way our whole season has gone. We get to five or we get to seven and they come back and tie it up,” said Warren head coach Blane Maddox. “We kept battling though and figured out some things and grinded out a win.”

The first quarter was a struggle for both squads as Morgan managed to out-point the Raiders 8-7.

Morgan’s Layton Coleman (32) goes up for a shot as Warren’s Blake Grimes (23) defends during Tuesday’s game at Warriors Coliseum. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

The Warriors got off to a great start in the second quarter with Tullius and Perdue connecting on two-pointers to give them a three-point lead.

Minutes later that lead swelled to five before Morgan answered with a three-pointer by Jude Garber and a rebound put-back bucket by Carsen Huck.

Late in the second quarter the Warriors took the biggest lead either team would have until the very end when buckets by Tullius and Perdue gave them a 23-17 lead.

Morgan got a pair of free throws by Luke Coleman late in the half to send the Warriors to the locker room with a 23-19 lead.

Perdue started the second half out by making one-of-two at the charity stripe to increase the lead to five before the Raiders put together their strongest stretch of the game as they scored seven consecutive points to take a 26-24 lead halfway through the third quarter.

Later in the quarter a three-pointer from Morgan’s Gavin Shriver gave the Raiders a three-point lead before once again the Warriors came charging back.

A drive on the baseline that ended up an and-one by Perdue tied things up at 35 before Tullius put his team in front with another two-pointer.

Both Tullius and Liam Gosselin made one-of-two at the foul line to give the Warriors a four-point lead heading to the final period.

Tullius opened the final quarter with a two-pointer but Morgan got three-pointers from Garber and Luke Coleman to tie things back up at 41-41.

With the game still tied with just under five minutes to play the Warriors got back-to-back baskets by sophomore Blake Grimes and Perdue to give them a four-point lead.

Morgan made 13-out-of-14 free throw attempts in the game but none more important than the four in a row made by Huck in the final minute of the game to tie things up at 49-49.

Warren held the ball for a final shot only to have Huck knock the ball away from Perdue and into the backcourt.

Perdue hustled to regain possession of the ball and then drove towards the basket before kicking the ball out on a wing to a wide open Hudson Elzey, whose buzzer-beating shot attempt bounced off of the rim to send the game into overtime.

“I thought maybe he (Elzey) might have had a lay-up there if he had taken it,” said Maddox, “He’s a three-point shooter though and he was wide open — it just didn’t go in for him.”

Morgan would jump out to a 51-49 lead in overtime on a two-pointer by Luke Coleman but the Warriors tied it back up when Tullius found a wide-open Grimes under the basket for two.

The Warriors jumped back in front when Perdue missed a shot but grabbed his own rebound and put it back up and in.

Once again the Raiders would answer as Shriver drove the baseline and scored to knot the score once again at 53-53.

Warren decided to pull the ball back out and try to play for a final shot but Perdue was fouled with 36 seconds to play in the game and with the Warriors in the bonus went to the foul line to shoot a pair of free throws.

The Warrior sophomore made them both to put his team in front by a pair.

The Raiders attempt to tie the game came up short when Luke Coleman’s shot was off the mark and Tullius grabbed the all-important rebound.

Tullius got the ball to Elzey and he was quickly fouled by the Raider defense and went to the line for a pair of freebies.

The normally sharp-shooting Elzey had a rough night shooting the basketball as he missed all six of his three-point attempts, but he was clutch at the foul line down the stretch and made four consecutive free throws in the closing 12 seconds to secure the win for the Warriors.

“(Hudson) Elzey was shooting blanks all night but he sure came through with those free throws at the end when we needed them the most,” said Maddox.

Perdue led all scorers with 23 points, while Tullius completed a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Grimes also finished with a double-double as he yanked down a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with his 12 points.

“I was really proud of (Jackson) Perdue for not only his offense but for his defense,” said Maddox of Perdue, who had five steals in the game. “Tullius played really hard and Grimes does what Grimes does every game for us.”

Shriver led a very balanced attack by Morgan with 13 points while Luke Coleman added 12.

Garber and Huck also reached double digits with 11 and 10 points respectively.

The loss dropped Morgan’s season mark to 4-9 with West Muskingum coming to town on Friday.

The win once again pushes the Warriors season mark above .500 with tough games upcoming later in the week with Ross County Christian and John Glenn.

“A great basketball game and credit to Morgan for playing a great game,” said Maddox. “We’ve got some more tough games coming up and we’ve just got to keep improving.”