ATHENS – Aidan Hadaway had a 27-point, 10-rebound double-double to lead Ohio to a 91-80 victory against Buffalo on Saturday at The Convo.

Jackson Paveletzke added 23 points, eight assists and six rebounds as the Bobcats (10-7, 4-1 Mid-American Conference) won their fifth straight and their ninth in the last 10 games.

Angelo Brizzi had 18 points, Ryan Sabol 17 points and Daniel Freitag 16 points as the Bulls (13-3, 3-1 MAC) lost their first conference game.

"That's a really good basketball team we just beat, I don't think they've been behind the majority of the season," Ohio coach Jeff Boals said. "They put so much pressure on you with their shot making and their guard play that you have to always be kind of on alert. I thought the first half we didn't really do that. The second half was much, much better. The awareness was there, the communication was there, and we found a way to win."

A Tim Oboh dunk gave Buffalo a 49-44 lead to start the second half, but Ohio owned the next eight minutes with a 28-6 run and moved ahead 72-55 on a Javan Simmons tip-in with 11:30 remaining.

It all started with five straight Paveletzke points before a go-ahead JJ Kelly layup. Brizzi tied it with a bucket inside before a Paveletzke free throw put the Bobcats in front for good. Hadaway followed with a 3-pointer, and then after a Bulls basket, he knocked down another. Simmons threw down a fastbreak alley-oop dunk following a Hadaway steal, and it was 60-53.

Kelly scored seven straight Ohio points before an Ajay Sheldon 3-pointer and then Simmons’ basket that capped the huge run.

Buffalo scored eight straight after that to cut the deficit to single digits, but that was as close as it got.

The first half saw the Bobcats jump out to a 9-4 lead, but the Bulls turned the momentum and moved in front 31-22 on a Freitag layup with 8:04 left and then 36-26 on a Freitaig free throw. Paveletzke, Hadaway and Sheldon scored baskets in an 8-0 run that got Ohio back in it.

Hadaway finished one point shy of his career high and likely would have eclipsed it except that he picked up his fifth foul on a technical with 3:49 remaining.

Simmons and Kelly both scored 13 points, while Sheldon finished with 10.

Ohio shot 59.6% for the game and went 17 of 20 at the foul line. Buffalo finished at 43.3% on field goals and was 14 of 22 on free throws.

"At the end of the day, the offense looks good if you make shots, but really it's all about guys stepping up and shooting with confidence," Paveletzke said.

The Bobcats hit the road to face Toledo at 7 p.m. Tuesday.