OXFORD – Jackson Paveletzke missed a good look at a game-tying layup as Miami held off Ohio 73-69 on Saturday afternoon at Millet Hall.

The Bobcats trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half and were down a dozen with under six minutes to play but rallied to as close as one. Brant Byers split two free throws with 10.2 seconds left, giving Ohio a chance. Paveletzke blew past his defender to an open rim but could not finish.

Byers then sank two free throws with less than two seconds left to seal the win for the RedHawks (16-5, 8-1 Mid-American Conference).

Shareef Mitchell led the way offensively for the Bobcats (11-10, 5-4 MAC) with 20 points, with AJ Brown scoring 15 points. Paveletzke added 11 points.

A Mitchell jumper got things going Ohio’s way. Paveletzke followed with two free throws, and then Vic Searls converted a three-point play that made it a 62-57 game with 4:25 left.

After two Evan Ipsaro foul shots, Brown scored back-to-back layups, adding an and-one free throw on the second, putting the score at 64-62 with 3:02 remaining.

Mitchell split two foul shots to keep Ohio down a point, and Ipsaro scored for Miami to increase his team’s lead back to three. After a steal, Brown made two more free throws at the 1:20 mark, and an Elmore James steal gave the Bobcats a chance to take the lead, but Brown missed.

Eian Elmer scored on the other end for Miami with 31 seconds left, and Mitchell answered with two points inside for Ohio with 15 seconds to go. After two Ipsaro free throws, the RedHawks quickly fouled to prevent a 3-point attempt, and Paveletzke made two more at the line to make it 70-61 with less than 11 seconds left. Byers split at the line led to Paveletzke’s final shot.

Peter Suder scored 15 points, while Kam Craft and Ipsaro both had 14 points for Miami. Suder, Ipsaro and Antwone Woolfolk all fouled out in the closing minutes.

Ohio got off to a quick start with a 14-7 lead in the first five minutes, but Miami used a 14-0 run to take a 32-22 lead with four minutes to go before halftime. The RedHawks led 35-26 at the break.

The Bobcats scored six straight points early in the second half and later got as close as 44-39 on an Ajay Sheldon 3-pointer, but Miami answered with consecutive 3s from Reece Potter and Suder to go back up double digits and then got an Ipsaro layup to make it 52-39. The advantage twice reached 14 after that before Ohio began its comeback.

With starting forwards AJ Clayton and Aidan Hadaway out, Vic Searls had seven points and 10 rebounds but was just 2 of 8 shooting. Sheldon went 2-for-4 on 3-pointers but fouled out in 19 minutes of action.

Ohio could not overcome shooting just 36.8% for the game, though its 22-of-26 free throw performance helped it stay close. Miami shot 40.7% for the game.

After a 4-0 start to league play, the injury-plagued Bobcats have dropped four of their last five games, mostly against the league-leading teams.

Western Michigan visits The Convo at 7 p.m. Tuesdays.