ATHENS – Ohio scored 20 straight points early in the first half and coasted to a 76-64 victory against Ball State in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Monday night at The Convo.

Leading 5-4 three minutes into the game, the Bobcats held the Cardinals scoreless for more than five minutes and led by double digits the rest of the way.

Nick Kellogg scored 17 points and became the MAC’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made with 279 while also passing out five assists. In a balanced Ohio effort, Javarez Willis scored 15 points and had five assists, Travis Wilkins finished with 14 points and Antonio Campbell tallied 12 points.

Zavier Turner led the Cardinals (5-25, 2-16 MAC) with 14 points, though he was just 4 of 12 from the field. Majok Majok had 13 points, Frank House scored 12 points and Jesse Berry had 10.

Fifth-seeded Ohio advances to face No. 8 Miami in the second round of the MAC Tournament. The RedHawks defeated No. 9 Kent State, 71-64.

Campbell got the Bobcats’ big early run going with a putback basket that was followed by 3-pointers by Wilkins, Willis and Kellogg to make it 16-4. The Bobcats then went inside with points in the paint from T.J. Hall, Wilkins and Maurice Ndour before another Wilkins 3-pointer made it 25-4 at the 12:24 mark.

Ohio stretched the lead to 22 on another Willis 3-pointer with 8:28 remaining in the first half, but the Cardinals made a run at the Bobcats by scoring 12 straight of their own to get to within 36-26 shortly before halftime.

A Campbell layup pushed the lead back to 56-39 midway through the second half before Ball State cut its deficit again to 11 with 7:23 remaining. The Cardinals got as close as 65-52 at the 4:24 mark, but Ohio came back with a layup by Hall, a Kellogg 3-pointer and a steal for a breakaway dunk by Jon Smith to put the game away for good.

Each team had 15 turnovers and the Cardinals used 11 offensive rebounds to hold a 35-31 edge on the boards. The difference was the Bobcats shot 52 percent from the field, including 9 of 23 from long range, while the Cardinals connected on 43.6 percent of their shots and made only 4 of 21 from beyond the arc.

Playing through or recovery from injuries, Maurice Ndour had six points and five rebounds in 17 minutes, Hall had six points and four boards in 21 minutes and Stevie Taylor was scoreless with two assists in 11 minutes.

Tipoff against the RedHawks is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena.