BOWLING GREEN – Shereef Mitchell hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:47 left as Ohio erased a double-digit second-half deficit and beat Bowling Green 86-81 for its first win at the Stroh Center since 2017.

The Falcons (9-15, 3-8 MAC) held a 10-point lead of 48-38 with 15:29 left, but the Bobcats (13-11, 7-4 MAC) tied the game by the middle of the second half, and it went back and forth for the next several minutes. Mitchell’s 3-pointer made it 77-74 and put Ohio ahead for good.

AJ Clayton and Jackson Paveletzke both made a pair of free throws on the next two possessions to make it a seven-point game. Bowling Green got as close as 85-81 with nine seconds left on a Trey Thomas 3-pointer. Clayton added another free throw with four seconds to go.

Shereef Mitchell led a balanced effort by the Bobcats with 17 points. AJ Brown had 16 points and five rebounds but fouled out with nearly four minutes remaining. Clayton scored 14 points, and Paveletzke finished with 14 points.

Bowling Green got off to a quick 10-2 lead, but back-to-back Mitchell 3-pointers got Ohio right back in it. The Bobcats led 24-18 on a Vic Searls layup at the 7:58 mark in the first half, but the Falcons finished strong and went into the locker room leading 34-32 on a Marcus Johnson 3-pointer.

The Falcons carried that momentum into the early part of the second half and went up 48-38 on a Derrick Butler layup with 15:29 to play. Paveletzke capped a run by Ohio that tied the score at 54. The biggest lead by either team after that until the final minute was when the Bobcats went up 68-64 on an Elmore James 3-pointer with 4:14 left.

The MAC’s leading scorer, Johnson finished with 21 points, five assists and four rebounds to lead the Falcons. Butler had 18 points. Javontae Campbell (13 points), DaJion Humphrey (11) and Jamai Felt (10) all scored in double digits.

James and Searls both just missed double digits, finishing with nine points, while Elijah Elliott had six points as Ohio shot 47.1% for the game, including 56% in the second half. It was 30 of 34 (88.2%) at the foul line, compared to Bowling Green doing 16 of 25 (64%).

Ohio takes on Kent State at 7 p.m. Friday at the MAC Center on CBS Sports Network.