ATHENS – Nick Kellogg missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer and Ohio fell to Bowling Green, 58-56, on Wednesday night at The Convo.

T.J. Hall, who led the Bobcats with 15 points, drained a 3-pointer to get Ohio within two and Jehvon Clarke missed on the front end of a one-and-one to give the Bobcats a chance to tie or win, but Kellogg’s contested shot came up short.

"It's a screen play we run for Kellogg,” Ohio coach Jim Christian said. “I have to look at it, but it looked like they both ran out at him. So, if that happens, we would hit Maurice (Ndour) with a pass. I don't know if he was open or not. I'll have to look at the tape. Those situations are tough. It was good defense by them, but it was our late-game execution defensively that was bad, especially on ball screens.”

Ndour had 12 points and eight rebounds, while Kellogg finished with 10 points for Ohio (13-5, 3-2 Mid-American Conference).

Spencer Parker scored 16 points, Clarke had 15 and Richaun Holmes finished with 12 for the Falcons (9-9, 3-2 MAC).

Ohio took a 51-50 lead on a Stevie Taylor free throw with 5:26 remaining but it lasted only 10 seconds before a Parker jumper put Bowling Green on top for good. Holmes made the Falcons’ lead three with a putback dunk, and after a score by Hall, Clarke hit back-to-back shots to push the Bowling Green lead to five with 1:31 to go.

The Bobcats got off to a great start, taking a 15-4 lead on a Hall layup, but it did not last long. The Falcons followed with a 14-1 run, capped by a Clarke 3-pointer that put his team on top, 18-16. Neither team led by more than five the rest of the way.

Ohio struggled against Bowling Green’s zone defense, shooting 42.2 percent with 18 turnovers.

"We got stagnant,” Stevie Taylor said. “We have to get the ball in the middle and attack the zone. They were playing pretty high. We did not execute well and we were not cutting hard enough. That is on us. Coach may say that is on him but at the same time the team has to take the responsibility at some point and I think it starts with me. If we got the ball in the middle we could have seen what would have happened, but we didn't and we lost."

Bowling Green shot worse – 39.3 percent – but had only 12 turnovers and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds. Jon Smith had a game-high seven rebounds to go with three blocks and two steals.

Ohio plays at 11 a.m. Saturday at Eastern Michigan in a game that will be shown on ESPNU.