TOLEDO – Ohio made a run at Toledo in the second half but Toledo held on to beat the Bobcats, 82-76, for a split of the season series Wednesday night at Savage Arena.

The Rockets led for all but about four minutes, answering a second-half Bobcats run with one of their own.

Nick Kellogg scored 21 points and five assists, while Travis Wilkins, in his first start, scored 17 points and had eight rebounds. He filled in for T.J. Hall, who was suspended for one game by coach Jim Christian because of an unspecified academic issue. Ohio (17-7, 7-4 Mid-American Conference) also played the final 6:50 without Stevie Taylor, who went out with a calf injury. John Smith posted his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Also short-handed, Toledo (21-3, 9-2 MAC) played without leading scorer Justin Drummond, who was charged with a DUI this weekend. Rian Pearson, the Rockets’ leader until Drummond’s transfer into the program this year, stepped back up into the primary scoring role again with 29 points on a 12-of-18 shooting performance. Julius Brown had 17 points and six assists. Nathan Boothe and Jonathan Williams finished with 12 points each.

Matt Smith hit two free throws to give Toledo a 79-71 lead with 55 seconds remaining but Ohio fought back. Kellogg hit a 3-pointer, and after a foul shot by Pierson, Kellogg hit two at the line to make it 80-76 with 37 seconds left. The Bobcats forced a turnover but Kellogg’s 3-point attempt rimmed out and Brown iced the game with two free throws.

Ohio’s only lead came thanks to a 12-0 run early in the second half. Down 50-43, the Bobcats got a Wilkins 3-pointer, a Kellogg free throw and a Javarez Willis 3-pointer to tie the game at 50. Taylor had a steal for an easy layup and Wilkins connected from deep to make it 55-50 with 12:34 remaining.

After Williams ended Toledo’s scoreless drought with a free throw, Smith had a follow-up dunk to give the Bobcats their largest lead, 57-51, but it was short-lived. Brown hit a tough 3-pointer, Jordan Lauf scored in the paint and Pierson completed a three-point play and then hit a jumper to cap a 10-0 Rockets run.

Pierson connected from beyond the arc with 2:54 remaining to push Toledo’s lead to six and then made it eight with a tip-in.

Kellogg assisted a Taylor layup midway through the first half that got Ohio within a point after Toledo led by as many as eight points, but the Rockets pushed their lead back to nine on a Pierson putback with 4:41 left in the first half and they took a 36-30 advantage into the locker room.

One game after hitting six 3-pointers, Wilkins made five in seven attempts against the Rockets. The rest of the Bobcats, though, went 6 of 21 from long range. Ohio picked up its shooting in the second half, going 9 of 17 from deep after making just 2 of 11 in the first half. Overall, it shot 45.8 percent.

Taylor had eight points and five assists with no turnovers. Willis scored nine points but was just 1 of 7 from 3-point range. Maurice Ndour, who scored a career-high 28 points in the Bobcats’ overtime victory against the Rockets earlier this season, was held to nine points on just seven shot attempts and had only two rebounds.

Toledo beat Ohio on the boards, 39-31, and had an advantage in offensive rebounds, 16-11. J.D. Weatherspoon paced the Rockets on the boards with eight to go with eight points. The Bobcats had one more turnover, 11-10.

Another Toledo advantage was the free throw line, where it was 18 of 26. Ohio shot half as many attempts (13) and made 11.

Ohio has another tough road contest next, playing at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Buffalo.