ATHENS – Northern Illinois’ comeback from 16 points down with 7:30 remaining came up just short as Gianni Cobb missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer and Ohio held on for an 80-77 victory Tuesday night at The Convo.

Jackson Paveletzke scored 23 points with four assists, Aidan Hadaway had 18 points, six assists and five rebounds, and JJ Kelly put up 17 points with nine rebounds to help the Bobcats (11-9, 5-3 Mid-American Conference) snap their two-game losing streak.

Dylan Ducommun had 23 points to lead the Huskies (6-12, 2-5 MAC). Cobb scored 13 points with six rebounds.

"The biggest thing was protecting home court," Ohio coach Jeff Boals said. "We had a couple of opportunities late in the game and gave up an offensive rebound when we should have gotten it. But the biggest thing was responding the right way and coming in and protecting home court."

The Bobcats used a 14-1 run to build their biggest lead, but the Huskies answered back with an 11-2 run to get back in it, and then after falling behind again by 11, they scored six straight, cutting it to 75-70 on a pair of Cobb free throws with 1:53 left.

Hadaway split two free throws and then Paveletzke did the same, putting Ohio up seven with a minute left. Cobb scored a quick layup, and after a turnover, Ducommun missed a jumper, but another turnover led to him connecting on a 3-pointer to make it 77-75 with 23 seconds to go.

Dior Conners made two foul shots, which were answered by a Taj Walters jumper with 10 seconds remaining. Paveletzke’s split at the free-throw line with five seconds left gave Northern Illinois a chance to tie it.

The Bobcats used an 8-0 run to take a 28-17 lead with six minutes left in the first half, but the Huskies scored the final seven points before the break to cut their deficit to 32-30. The run carried into the second half with four points to move the Huskies in front.

After a few lead changes, Ohio moved in front for good on a Kelly jumper that made it 43-41 with 14:54 left. That was the start of a 9-0 run.

"I thought he (Kelly) played a great floor game on both ends," Boals said. "He gave us some great movement offensively without the basketball, and he's done that all year. Those nine rebounds were big. He got a couple of offensive boards in there as well, but he's as athletic as anybody on the floor."

Conners had 11 points in 12 minutes off the bench for Ohio, going 3-for-6 on 3-pointers. The Bobcats were 8 of 19 from long range as a team and shot 50% from the field overall.

Northern Illinois shot 45.3% and made 9 of 20 3-point attempts.

Ohio hosts Akron at 8 p.m. Friday at The Convo on ESPNU.