ATHENS – Josh Williams had 20 points, and Isaiah Johnson finished with 18 points and nine rebounds as Mid-American Conference-leading Akron pulled away in the closing minutes for an 80-68 victory against Ohio on Tuesday night at The Convo.

Antonio Campbell posted his 10th double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Treg Setty also had a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards for Ohio, which trailed by three with just over four minutes remaining.

After a Campbell bucket in the paint made it 63-60, Antino Jackson made it a two-possession game with a layup, and after a steal, Noah Robotham connected on two free throws. Jaaron Simmons split four free throws with a Reggie McAdams basket in between, keeping the Zips’ lead at seven with 2:52 to go.

Jake Kretzer’s layup make it 71-62 with 2:26 remaining, and after a basket by Setty, Akron (18-4, 7-2 MAC) scored eight straight points at the foul line to put Ohio (13-8, 4-5 MAC) away.

“A lot of the shots they made were tough shots,” Setty said. “They were contested and we did what we were supposed to do on the play. Down the stretch they got a couple of offensive rebounds, putbacks and that kind of broke our back towards the end."

An early 9-0 run put the Zips on top 14-6, and the Bobcats never led after the first 5:07 of the game. Akron pushed its lead to 26-17 on a Robotham 3-pointer, but Kenny Kaminski and Setty hit back-to-back 3-pointers before seven straight Akron points were scored.

Down 36-29 at halftime, the Bobcats quickly cut it to three in the second half and then got as close as one at 42-41 on a Jordan Dartis 3-pointer at the 16:16 mark. Doug Taylor’s two free throws also made it a one-point game, 44-43, but the Zips answered with baskets each time.

“I felt like we were just on the verge of cracking that all night long, and then we put it on the deck again,” Ohio coach Saul Phillips said. “When we got looks out of it, we got really good looks. It was feast or famine. We didn’t do anywhere near a good enough job finishing the ball.”

Robotham went 11 of 12 at the foul line and finished with 14 points for Akron, which went 17 of 21 on free throws as a team. Ohio was just 12 of 21.

Kaminski finished with 12 points for Ohio, but he was just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers and 4 of 12 overall.

Ohio hosts Northern Illinois at 2 p.m. Saturday.