Staff photo / Preston Byers Heartland Christian’s Isaiah Matthews rises (0) for a shot during Tuesday’s win over Warren JFK in Warren.

WARREN — It took every second of the game, but Heartland Christian earned a hard-fought road win Tuesday over Warren JFK.

The Lions, who defended their various leads throughout the night, successfully did so one more time in the closing moments to leave Warren with a 58-56 victory, their fifth straight to start the season.

“Thrilling win,” Lions head coach Josh Scott said. “Super exciting for our fans. This is the first time that we’ve ever won in this gym as a program. It’s a tough environment, and JFK’s really good, so I’m really proud of our guys for making plays down the stretch.”

Unlike most of the game, Heartland Christian had to battle back in the opening quarter after falling behind 15-10. The Lions outscored the Eagles 7-2 over the final 2:15 of the first to send the game to the second quarter tied at 17.

HC, as it did often Tuesday, began the quarter quickly, scoring the first basket 20 seconds in and taking a two-possession lead with an 8-2 run in the first two-and-a-half minutes.

Kennedy, though, slowly but surely eliminated the deficit with a 9-2 run, including seven unanswered to end the half and take a 29-27 lead into the locker room despite starter Henry Phillips on the bench due to foul trouble.

The Eagles failed to hold onto the advantage in the third, as HC rebounded from an early Phillips triple with an 11-0 run and held Kennedy scoreless for more than five minutes. After the cold stretch, JFK successfully responded and pulled within two points by the end of the quarter.

“I tell them I feel like they get bored of doing things that work, and they try something different and it doesn’t work for a while and then they get back to what worked,” Kennedy head coach Mark Komlanc said of his team’s early-quarter woes. “Some of that is maturity and growth, and they’re gonna get there. But right now, they struggle with that consistency, and that’s all it is. I feel like the beginning of each quarter, it was kind of a reset, and they thought it was 0-0 and they can start all over again and kind of dig a hole and battle back.”

Neither team’s offense began the final quarter well; only two points were scored in the first 2:20, keeping the game deadlocked 41. Eventually, however, both teams began to trade baskets, only for the Lions, who entered Tuesday’s game averaging 80.5 points per game, to emerge the winners of the trade. After being down 48-47 momentarily, HC went on an 8-2 run that put the Lions ahead with 90 seconds to go.

JFK expectedly clawed back, taking advantage of several missed free throws by the Lions, but a series of Eagle turnovers and an unsuccessful Andrew Lapolla go-ahead corner three just seconds after making a triple from the opposite corner kept the Eagles from taking the lead.

In one final chance, Kennedy tried to throw up a buzzer-beating 3-pointer after Collin Kalaher split a pair of free throws. However, despite some possible contact on the would-be shot attempt, the game’s officials did not blow their whistles and instead walked off the court as Komlanc and the Eagles argued in favor of three game-winning free throws.

“I don’t even think there was enough time technically to get a shot off, and I don’t think he got fouled,” Komlanc said with a laugh. “But I’m a coach, and I’m going to fight for that call. … It was our only hope, to be honest, so that’s what we were trying to do. And they almost let us do it.”

Kalaher led all scorers with 26 points on the night, while Matthews added 16 for the Lions. Phillips and Lapolla each scored 15 for the Eagles.

With the loss, its second straight by two points, Warren JFK dropped to 1-2 on the season. Kennedy lost to St. Thomas Aquinas 46-44 on Saturday after beating Bristol the previous day.

Komlanc said he does not want his team to forget the performances despite the unfortunate results because “their effort is amazing” against high-caliber opponents.

The Eagles’ next game is Friday, when they host Mogadore, which Heartland Christian beat 77-54 to open the season.

The Lions (5-0) have about a week off before their next game vs. Salem on Tuesday.

“I think it came at a really good time because our guys are pretty tired and pretty beat up. We’ve had five [games] since Black Friday, so it’s a lot of basketball we’ve played. So we’re welcoming the time off,” Scott said. “But the message is, everybody is gonna give us their best effort because they want to knock us off. I think that’s a good thing, but with that, we got to be ready to bring our A-game, too.”