ATHENS – Trailing by 12 with little more than three minutes remaining, Ohio had a chance to tie in the final minute but came up short – after it led by as many as 17 points in the first half – falling 92-90 to VMI in the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament on Wednesday night at The Convo.

Though it did not matter in the final results, the Mid-American Conference career 3-point leader Nick Kellogg hit one last shot at the buzzer and finished his career with his best-ever scoring output of 30 points. Maurice Ndour had 26 points but the Bobcats (25-12) did not quite keep pace with the high-scoring Keydets (22-12).

Rodney Glasgow finished 30 points and D.J. Covington added 29 for VMI, which shot lights out after a slow start and scored 53 points in the second half. After shooting just 32.4 percent in the first half, VMI connected on 67.9 percent of its shots in the second half.

“They made plays,” Ohio coach Jim Christian said. “With Covington’s size, he was a lot to handle. Sometimes we sit here and we try to think of what we could do, but they played really, really well. They made every big shot. They made every big free throw.”

Glasgow scored a layup that put VMI ahead 86-74 with 3:32 remaining, but as it did all season, Ohio made a comeback effort. Ndour, who made 12 of 13 shot attempts, scored a basket inside and Javarez Willis scored an uncontested layup after a Stevie Taylor steal.

After Glasgow missed on the front end of a one-and-one, Kellogg made two free throws to slice Ohio’s deficit to six. He then drained a corner 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game with 1:59 remaining.

Brian Brown missed for the Keydets, giving the Bobcats a chance to tie. Instead, after dribbling down most of the shot clock, Taylor missed a long 3-point attempt and Glasgow scored on the other end to put his team back up by five.

Willis’ two free throws with 20 seconds left made it a three-point game again, and after Covington hit two at the foul line, Travis Wilkins scored on a putback with six seconds left. Glasgow clinched the victory for the Keydets by adding two free throws a few seconds later.

“No matter what, whatever we were faced with, we found a way to overcome it in some form or fashion,” Kellogg said. “Obviously tonight we did not get as far as we would like to with the win but they made a really big run at us and we kind of caved in. We had a couple opportunities to make plays and like coach said they made some really good plays and we missed some opportunities.”

After a Glasgow 3-pointer to open the game, the Bobcats scored 13 straight points and for much of the first half seemed like they might run away from the Keydets. Wadly Mompremier’s three-point play gave Ohio a 12-point lead and an Ndour 3-pointer put the score at 26-13 with more than 11 minutes remaining in the half.

A short time later, Willis, Setty and Kellogg scored consecutive layups that made it 32-16, and after two Trey Chapman free throws for VMI, Kellogg connected on a 3-pointer that gave the Bobcats their biggest lead, 35-18, at the 7:21 mark in the first half.

“I think we played great defense in the first half,” Christian said. “I think our ball screen defense in the first half and our overall defense in the first 10 minutes of the game was as good a defense as we’ve played in the last 15 games. I think they got going a bit and our ability to contain the one-on-one, we just did a poor job of that. In order to beat them, you’ve got to contain the basketball. We did that in the beginning, but the second half, we didn’t do that.”

From then on, the Keydets started lighting up the scoreboard, beginning with a Brian Brown 3-pointer on the next possession. It started a 10-0 run that quickly got VMI back in the game and the Keydets trailed by a 46-39 margin at halftime.

An Ndour layup three minutes into the second half got Ohio’s lead back to double-digits, but it took only two and a half minutes for VMI to score 11 straight to take its first lead since it was 3-2 on a Glasgow 3-pointer at the 14:17 mark.

The Keydets got their separation beginning with a Covington layup with 11:16 remaining. He added a free throw and a Tim Marshall 3-pointer made it a six-point game. Another Marshall trey at the 9:26 mark pushed VMI’s lead to eight.

Brown connected from beyond the arc and Marshall hit two at the foul line to make it 81-70 with 5:30 remaining. The lead reached 12 on a Covington three-point play with just less than four minutes to go and again on a Glasgow layup 30 seconds later.

Barely better than 30 percent shooters from 3-point range on the season, the Keydets went 9 of 20 against the Bobcats and made 21 of 25 free throw tries. They finished at 47.7 percent overall from the field.

The Bobcats were even better at 55.6 percent and matched VMI’s nine 3-pointers made but made 10 less free throws (11 of 16) and got outrebounded 37-30.

Only eight players were able to give minutes to the Bobcats, who got another lift from Javarez Willis (13 points) with his seventh double-digit scoring output in eight games.

Though Kellogg went out with a huge game – he was 9 of 14 from the field, including 6 of 10 on 3-pointers – it was a tough finish for the team’s other three seniors. Playing through a shoulder injury, Wilkins scored only two points, while Ricardo Johnson and T.J. Hall sat out with injuries. Ndour and Taylor played with injuries throughout the last month or more of the season. The Bobcats were left further short-handed when senior Jon Smith left the team before the start of the CIT.

“The senior class did an unbelievable job of coming into the year identifying that we had to have a more ‘together’ group and maintaining that throughout the year,” Christian said. “That’s something that needs to carry on. The resiliency of this group, to come back in games and play through injuries and all the other stuff was great. There’s a lot to build on. Obviously, playing into the postseason, guys have got the chance to do two things: play minutes and see really good players play. There’s a difference between preaching it and telling it, you’ve got to live it.”

Ndour’s seven rebounds and Willis’ six assists were team bests for the Bobcats.

Covington had a double-double, finishing with 11 rebounds, and though QJ Peterson struggled through a 1-of-9 shooting effort, he had nine boards for the Keydets. Glasgow had five assists and a pair of steals.

“It all actually just kind of hit me when that last buzzer rang that this is going to be the last time I get to play with these guys and the last time I get to play in this building,” Kellogg said. “But, I have had a really good four years here with the fan support and playing for two coaches and great guys. So it all just kind of hit me in that moment. I’ve been blessed. I have been lucky to be here and improve not only as a player, but as a person, as a teammate and as a leader, so I don’t have any regrets. I am just thankful for the opportunity I had to come to Athens and play for four good years.”

VMI will compete in the tournament semifinals, which will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network on Tuesday night.