Staff photo / Preston Byers Chaney’s Asuante Mickel drives to the basket for a layup during the Cowboys’ loss to Harding on Friday in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — The sound of a referee’s whistle rang loud and often Friday in a physical matchup between the Chaney and Warren G. Harding boys basketball teams.

The Raiders emerged from the road game with another win, grinding out a 62-51 comeback win in Youngstown.

“Hard-fought, tough, physical game,” Harding coach Keelyn Franklin said. “It’s a tournament-like atmosphere. This is what you want this time of year. So I’m proud of the way our guys responded. We started off slow, kind of lackadaisical, but we woke up and did what we had to do to get the win.”

The Cowboys controlled the action throughout the first quarter, at the end of which Chaney led the presumed favored Raiders 16-5.

Chaney’s defense proved to be puzzling for Harding, which lost many chances at points due to turnovers.

“We were doing what we do all year: we trap,” Chaney head coach Marlon McGaughy said.

Early in the second quarter, Franklin opted for his “diamond” defense, a 1-3-1 zone that begins in the frontcourt. The move paid dividends nearly immediately, with the Raiders going on an 11-3 run after switching up their defensive scheme. Still, Chaney clung to a 24-22 lead going into the break.

After a back-and-forth start to the second half, Harding, courtesy of Chaz Coleman slam dunk, took its first lead of the game with 3:45 left in the third quarter.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, Chaney responded; after Coleman’s dunk, the Cowboys outscored Harding 12-5, including a period in which Chaney scored nine unanswered points, to finish the quarter.

In the fourth, the fouls began to pile up for the Cowboys, who started the quarter with a technical foul. Moments later, Harding pulled within a point with a dunk, and after a Chaney turnover, took the lead on a fast-break layup.

After those two field goals, Harding recorded just four baskets the rest of the quarter. Despite this, the Raiders managed to slowly extend its advantage at the free-throw line as the pace of the game crumbled as a result of the frequent whistles.

Similarly, Chaney made just two field goals in the fourth, in comparison to its five successful free throws. Additionally, the Cowboys were called for two technical fouls, the second of which came after a Chaney and Harding player were seemingly trash-talking to each other.

“I don’t really want to say anything about officials, but I mean, it’s been going on all year,” McGaughy said. “I just think, as an official, when it’s a close game, when two players are talking, you give a double tech. You don’t penalize one, or don’t call one at all. But besides that, what can you do?”

Jeremy Sampson managed to sink several foul shots down the stretch to close the proverbial door on a comeback by Chaney, which was outscored 25-9 in the fourth.

With the win, the Raiders improved to 17-3 on the season. Harding has two games remaining in the regular season; the Raiders host St. Thomas Aquinas on Tuesday before their season finale at Austintown Fitch on Thursday.

“We have to get better at our end-of-game situations, understanding time and situations,” Franklin said of things to improve upon over the final week of the regular season. “We took a three when we shouldn’t have, we tried to throw a lob off the backboard when we shouldn’t have. We’ve got to clean that up because those are the type of things that can send you home.

“And then I think that we have to come out ready to play. I didn’t think we came out ready to play. We let them punch us in our mouth first, and we tried to respond. But you can’t do that in the tournament.”

Chaney’s regular season came to an end Friday with its loss to Harding, which puts the Cowboys at 12-9 entering the playoffs.

They begin the postseason Tuesday as the 24th seed and will host No. 43 Chardon in a Division III, Northeast 3 sectional semifinal.

“I really don’t know a lot about Chardon, but I know we’re gonna do what we do. So whoever we play, we’re going to continue to do the same thing we do,” McGaughy said.

If the Cowboys win Tuesday, they will visit Tallmadge next Saturday.