YPSILANTI, Mich. – Jackson Paveletzke buried a running double-clutch 30-footer at the buzzer to complete a comeback from 20 down and give Ohio a 68-67 victory against Eastern Michigan on Saturday at the George Gervin GameAbove Center.

Down 67-63 after Jon Sanders split a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left, the Bobcats (8-7, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) got a driving layup from Paveletzke to cut their deficit to two with eight seconds left. Carlos Hart missed two foul shots with 5.5 seconds left, and the Eagles put pressure on Paveletzke that forced him to the right corner and made him shoot from deep between a double team, but he nonetheless buried the shot.

Ohio overcame its worst offensive first half of the season. It trailed 32-15 and was down 20 after Braelon Green opened the second half with a 3-pointer.

The Bobcats briefly took the lead with five minutes left but trailed 66-61 with 1:34 to go after an Addison Patterson trey. Paveletzke scored ahead of Sanders, and after a defensive stop, Javan Simmons was blocked in the paint, forcing Ohio to foul Sanders.

Simmons led the way with 15 points and six rebounds, while Paveletzke scored 14 points. Aidan Hadaway tallied 11 points and eight boards as the Bobcats moved over .500 for the first time this season.

Patterson had 17 points and six rebounds for the Eagles (7-8, 1-2 MAC). Braelon Green added 16 points, and Sanders finished with 12 points off the bench.

Ohio’s awful first half saw it make just 6 of 25 shots, including 1 of 15 from long range, with nine turnovers. It recovered to shoot 57.6% in the second half, with 6-of-12 3-point shooting included, and only had five turnovers.

After the Bobcats went down 20, they did not take long to get back into it. Sheldon hit a 3-pointer, got a steal and then hit another shot from deep to cut the deficit to single digits at 42-34 with 15:06 remaining.

Later, an Elijah Elliott layup made it 49-43, and then a big run moved Ohio in front. Hadaway scored a layup, Simmons scored a three-point play, Simmons scored again and then Paveletzke hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 6:16 to go.

After a Simmons free throw made it 56-54, Eastern Michigan scored the next six points and held the lead until losing it at the buzzer.

Simmons scored the first basket of the game, but the Eagles answered with nine straight points and controlled the entire first half. The Bobcats did not reach double digits until a Hadaway basket made it 23-10 with 7:28 remaining.

Jesse Burris and Kiir Kuany combined to score nine of Ohio’s first-half points while the team’s starters had just four points on 2-of-17 shooting.

Ohio hosts UMass at 6 p.m. Tuesday at The Convo.