ATHENS – There’s no place like home for Antonio Campbell and Ohio.

After being held to five points in only 13 foul-plagued minutes in Wednesday night’s Mid-American Conference opener at Northern Illinois, Campbell returned to form with 27 points and 13 rebounds in a 79-73 victory against Ball State on Saturday at The Convo.

Jaaron Simmons added 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Treg Setty scored 11 points.

Francis Kiapway led the Cardinals (10-5, 1-1 MAC) with 21 points, finishing 6 of 8 on 3-pointers.

Ohio (10-4, 1-1 MAC) got separation from Ball State in the middle of the second half. Up 56-54, the Bobcats scored eight straight points to take control. Campbell began it with two free throws, and he followed with a 3-pointer. Simmons added a layup, and Setty contributed a free throw with 8:12 remaining to make it 64-54.

"We became more aggressive (in the second half),” Campbell said. “We started attacking the rim more, spread the floor, use vert-ball screens to free Jaaron up and get down in the paint and make some plays."

Ohio matched its biggest lead of 10 at 71-61 with 4:21 to go on a Simmons three-point play, but Ball State made a push. Kiapway hit two free throws and then assisted on a Ryan Weber layup after a steal with 1:24 remaining, making it 73-69.

After an Ohio miss, the Cardinals could have made it even closer, but they turned it over, and Simmons scored to make it a six-point game with 26 seconds to go. The Bobcats added two free throws and a steal for a layup of their own to finish it off.

The Bobcats led early, but only by as much as 13-7, and the Cardinals made a run to move on top. They scored eight straight points, going up 34-26 with 1:36 left before the break. Ohio got as close as 36-33 on a Gavin Block 3-pointer, but a Bo Calhoun trey made it 39-33 in favor of the Cardinals at halftime.

Ohio erased the deficit right away in the second half, getting a Campbell three-point play and a Jordan Dartis 3-pointer. Neither team led by two points after that until the Bobcats’ 8-0 run.

“I thought the game changed at halftime when we decided to be a little more aggressive,” Ohio coach Saul Phillips said.

Weber had 11 points, and Calhoun and Trey Moses finished with 10 points each for the Cardinals.

Ball State had only three offensive rebounds, while Ohio had 10. The Bobcats also had fewer turnovers, 11-10.

Campbell went 8 of 15 from the field, including 4 of 6 on 3-pointers, and was 7 of 7 at the line. Simmons also made all seven of his free-throw tries and was 7 of 16 from the field.

Kenny Kaminski had a second-straight poor shooting night for Ohio, going 0 for 6. As a team, the Bobcats shot 42.9 percent and were 25 of 31 on free throws – a big advantage compared to Ball State’s nine made foul shots in nine tries.

"It's big because we always want to defend the home floor,” Simmons said. “We never want to lose at home. Starting 0-2, that would've really hurt. But, we didn't really lose a lot of confidence. I told you we were going to bounce back and not turn one loss into two, and that's what we did."

Jeremiah Davis had seven points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Cardinals.

Ohio hosts Bowling Green at 7 p.m. Tuesday at The Convo.