CONWAY, S.C. – AJ Clayton smashed his career high with 34 points and added 12 rebounds as Ohio snapped its losing streak and gave coach Jeff Boals his 100th Ohio win with an 85-73 victory against Portland in the consolation round of the Myrtle Beach Invitational on Friday at the HTC Center.

Clayton went 13-of-26 from the field, including 6-of-14 from long range in 30 minutes. Aidan Hadaway had his best game of the year with 13 points and eight rebounds, and Vic Searls had a season-best 11 points with five rebounds. Jackson Paveltzke had his second straight double-double with 11 points and 10 assists.

“Our guards just penetrated and found me, and then in transition found me,” Clayton said.

Ohio (2-4) built a double-digit lead within the first seven minutes, going up 19-8 on a Searls layup, and never trailed. Leading 19-10, the Bobcats scored nine straight points to move in front 28-10 just past the midway point of the first half. They led 46-30 on a basket at the buzzer by Paveletzke.

“I thought we came out real aggressively and go ta 12-6 lead that first four-minute war, which is a big key for us, and had multiple guys come in and contribute,” Ohio coach Jeff Boals said.

The Pilots (2-4) made a few runs after that, cutting the deficit to single digits at two different points, but they never really got back into it.

The first case was a 9-0 run following a Clayton basket to begin the second half, making it 48-39, and got as close as 57-49 with 11:18 left. Elmore James and Ajay Sheldon hit back-to-back 3-pointers to build some cushion. A short time later, Clayton scored seven points in 15 seconds with a dunk, a 3-pointer and two technical foul free throws to make it 70-51.

After Austin Rapp answered with a layup for Portland, Clayton scored a layup and then drained a 3-pointer for the biggest margin of the game of 22 points at 75-53 with 7:34 to go.

Portland scored seven straight after that and then had an 11-0 run, cutting its deficit to 79-71 on a Mezziah Oakman free throw with 1:20 remaining, but Ohio put the game away with a pair of Paveletzke free throws and then a Clayton fastbreak layup.

AJ Brown had a quiet game for Ohio with seven points on 3-of-8 shooting. James also scored seven points while continuing to start in place of the injured Shareef Mitchell. He warmed up before the game but did not play.

Vukasin Masic led the Pilots with 17 points and five rebounds, while Austin Rapp had 13 points and seven boards. Max Mackinnon reached double figures with 10 points and added seven boards.

After a bad shooting game to start the tournament, Ohio made 45.2% of its shots, including 11 of 34 (32.4%) of its 3-pointers. It especially was sharp in the first half, shooting 52.8%.

The Bobcats bounced back from an overtime loss in the tournament opener in which Middle Tennessee rallied down the stretch.

“I’m really proud of our guys’ response after yesterday,” Boals said. “That’s one thing we always talk about. Whatever event happens, how you respond, the outcome’s going to be that way, and I thought they had a great focus.”

Portland actually shot a higher percentage at 46.7% but was just 4 of 14 from long range and had just three offensive rebounds to Ohio’s nine.

The Bobcats take on the winner between Texas State and Princeton in the fifth-place game at 8 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.