Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Canfield’s Jake DeLisio (2) puts up a shot in the lane during Tuesday’s 35-28 loss at Warren G. Harding.

WARREN — With Warren G. Harding struggling to generate scoring in the second half on Tuesday, the Raiders turned to their best player to get them across the finish line.

Despite trailing to start the fourth quarter, Chaz Coleman scored nine of his game-high 14 points in the final period to lift the Raiders to a 35-28 victory over Canfield to clinch the All-American Conference title.

“We needed it, and we were counting on it,” Harding head coach Keelyn Franklin said. “They did a great job on him the whole game, not just the first half, of making it difficult and keeping bodies on him. When he tried to drive, they were throwing bodies on him. We just tried to run every type of action we could to get him some open looks, and we were able to do that towards the end of the game. He stepped up and did what big-time players do.”

Neither team shot the ball particularly well — the Raiders shot 39.3% from the floor, while the Cardinals were 22.7% overall.

The poor shooting, coupled with each team’s defense, caused a slower game tempo, which magnified the importance of each possession, especially down the stretch.

“Buckets are almost worth four points in games like that because they’re so hard to come by,” Franklin said. “I thought we started rushing there when we had a two- or three-point lead, and we were playing as if we were down. I think that cost us, and it could have cost us the game if we can’t make a shot or two there. But these are tournament-type games … the reality is, when you get in the tournament and you’re playing quality teams, you’re not going to be able to score that many points because they’re good teams.”

Gummy Hart helped carry Harding’s offense in the first half, as the Cardinals keyed in on Coleman defensively. He scored all nine of his points before halftime, which included hitting a pair of threes.

But after trailing at the break, Canfield found some momentum in the third quarter, as 6-0 run midway through the period gave the Cardinals their first lead of the night.

At that point, they had all the momentum, but they weren’t able to create any separation because of their shooting woes.

“I thought we grinded our way out of it and had a lead,” Canfield head coach Andy Vlajkovich said. “I don’t fault our physical effort at all. I think it’s really hard for young kids or anybody to play as hard as we did when you’re not scoring and shooting the basketball well. What I was disappointed with was that we had some mental breakdowns that just can’t happen. It’s inexcusable, especially with a veteran team.”

Drew Shapiro led Canfield with eight points, while four others each scored five.

As Coleman started to take over in the fourth quarter, Harding’s defense picked up, as well.

Franklin said the Raiders were primarily in their man-to-man defense, but they mixed in their 1-3-1 zone on a handful of possessions to try to get the Cardinals out of rhythm.

It worked, as the Raiders held Canfield to just four points in the final period on 2-for-11 shooting, which included a pair of blocked 3-point attempts that led to Harding baskets on the other end.

“We had our chances,” Vlajkovich said. “Messing up sets out of timeouts, not executing what we needed to get done at certain times — it just happened way too frequently to beat a team like them.”

Next up, Harding (15-3) will visit Cardinal Mooney on Friday night at 7 p.m., while Canfield (16-3) will host fellow AAC foe Boardman on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.