Correspondent photo / David Dermer Harding’s Davion Herron shoves off Massillon’s Isaiah Lamp during the second half of the game on Tuesday.

WARREN — It took a pair of extra sessions to decide an instant classic when Massillon Washington visited Warren G. Harding on Tuesday. In the end, only one team could walk away victorious and the Tigers prevailed 72-67.

“I was impressed with our grit,” said Massillon coach Josh Hose. “Warren is a great team. Their coach does a phenomenal job. We found a way to extend the game. We came up here and played Ursuline a couple of weeks ago and gave up 101 points. Our defense won this game tonight.”

There was a lid on the basket for the first 3 minutes of the game. Then, senior Chaz Coleman (game-high 32 points) broke a scoreless tie with a thunderous dunk for the Raiders (13-3).

The Tigers responded by going on a 11-2 run before Harding coach Keelyn Franklin called a timeout. Senior Jeremy Sampson nailed a 3-pointer from the corner, but Massillon led 13-9 heading to the second.

Sophomore Gummy Hart made a layup. Junior Myles Miller scored down low, and Sampson hit a jumper. Coleman had a nice take, and he drilled one from downtown to put the Raiders ahead by 7 points. However, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run to tie the game 27-27 at halftime.

Junior Xavier Clark scored to begin the second half. Freshman Asa Burch made a basket inside, but the Tigers grabbed a 45-40 advantage heading to the fourth quarter.

The Raiders erased a 5-point deficit in the fourth, as Miller scored underneath and Sampson made 2 free-throws to help force overtime with the score tied up 54-54.

Senior Davion Herron was strong in the lane. Both teams had multiple chances to win the contest, but a second overtime was required with the score tied 61-61.

The second overtime was nip and tuck until the final moments when fouls and turnovers helped Massillon (11-3) pull off the victory. Senior Chris Knight led the Tigers with 22 points.

“It was a very competitive game,” said Franklin. “I thought we came out with a little lackluster effort. After that long bus ride for Massillon, we kind of allowed them to get their legs underneath them.

“We just have to get better. When you shoot 6 for 17 from the free-throw line, and 2 for 20 from the 3-point line, you’re not going to win many games. To have an opportunity to win the game, while shooting that badly, you can take some things from that. We had a lot of opportunities to put the game away, and we just didn’t take advantage of it.”