ATHENS – Nick Kellogg scored 14 of Ohio’s final 16 points as the Bobcats pulled away from Northern Iowa in the final minutes for a 75-64 season-opening victory before a crowd of 11,162 on Saturday at The Convo.

Kellogg finished with 16 points, while Maurice Ndour led the Bobcats with 20 points, Ricardo Johnson scored 14 and Stevie Taylor had 10 points and eight assists.

"Everybody who stepped on the floor for us did some things they can improve on and did some things that helped us win the game," Ohio coach Jim Christian said. "The game is played so fast that everybody has got to contribute if you want to have a good team.”

Deon Mitchell’s layup with 3:26 remaining got the Panthers to within four, but after a missed 3-pointer by Kellogg, they turned it over and Kellogg scored a reverse layup at the shot clock buzzer to put the Bobcats up six with 1:36 remaining. Kellogg then helped put away Northern Iowa four free throws down the stretch.

“I think we have five ‘go-to’ guys," Kellogg said. "At any point in time any of us can go. We have a lot of leverage, so I don’t think there has to be one ‘go-to’ guy.”

Mitchell paced the Panthers with 18 points. Jeremy Morgan and Chip Rank each came off the bench and contributed 14 and 13 points, respectively, but All-Missouri Valley Conference first-team pick Seth Tuttle was held to six points and eight rebounds.

Down 4-3 early in the game, Ohio used a 12-0 run to take the lead and never trailed again. Ndour scored on a hook shot to start the surge and Kellogg scored his only points before the final eight minutes on a fast break layup off a Jon Smith steal.

Treg Setty scored a layup before Johnson and Javarez Willis hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Bobcats a 15-4 advantage barely more than five minutes into the game.

Rank hit a 3-pointer that drew the Panthers to within one with 4:30 left in the half, but Taylor scored a layup and a trey of his own to push Ohio’s back up to six. A three-point play by Taylor at the end of the first half gave the Bobcats a 39-32 edge.

Johnson scored a layup to put the Bobcats up six with 8:01 remaining in the game, but only Kellogg scored for Ohio after that until Ndour hit two free throws in the final minute. Kellogg’s second straight 3-pointer with 5:07 remaining put Ohio on top 67-59, but Northern Iowa pushed by holding the Bobcats scoreless until Kellogg’s big layup with 1:36 to go.

“We just want to play hard, aggressive and take what the defense gives us," Johnson said. "Our preparation up to this point made us ready for this game. In practice, we talk about playing with energy and that’s what we did.”

Ohio shot much better than Northern Iowa from the field, making 51.9 percent of their shots, including 11 of 23 3-pointers. The Panthers were good on only 38.8 percent of their attempts overall and just 6 of 22 shots from beyond the arc, but they made 20 of 27 free throws, while Ohio was just 10 of 14.

The Bobcats committed only six turnovers and forced 12. Ohio scored 18 points off turnovers to six for Northern Iowa.

Kellogg and Ndour led a team effort on the boards with five apiece. Jon Smith blocked four shots.

The Bobcats face Ohio State at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Value City Arena in Columbus.