ATHENS – Shareef Mitchell’s free throws with 16 seconds left were the game winners as Kyler Vanderjagt missed a jumper at the buzzer and Ohio topped Central Michigan 84-82 on Tuesday night at The Convo.

The Chippewas rallied from seven down with 4:28 left but missed a chance to take the lead when Ugnius Jarusevicius split two free throws to tie the score at 82 with 46 seconds left. Mitchell missed a layup, but the Bobcats retained possession and Mitchell was fouled.

Jackson Paveletzke led Ohio (14-12, 8-5 Mid-American Conference) with 22 points and six rebounds, while AJ Brown had 20 points and seven boards. Mitchell had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while AJ Clayton reached double figures with 11 points.

That balance was enough to overcome huge nights from the Chippewas’ Jakob Heady, who had 35 points, and Jarusevicius, who scored 25 points. Central Michigan (11-15, 4-9 MAC) played only six players, and Heady did not leave the court.

A Brown layup in the closing seconds of the first half cut Ohio’s deficit to 41-38 at the break. Elliott and Paveletzke had baskets to put the Bobcats ahead, and after the teams traded advantages for a few minutes, another Elliott layup put the Bobcats ahead for the rest of the half until the final minute.

The advantage grew to 55-48 on a Paveletzke jumper with 13:27 left. Bryan Ndjonga’s three-point play made it a one-point game, but Paveletzke and Clayton hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a seven-point game again.

After the Chippewas got to within one again, the Bobcats extended the advantage to 80-73 on a Clayton 3-pointer with 4:28 to play. Vanderjagt had back-to-back baskets to make it a one-possession game, but Paveletzke answered with a layup to make it 82-77.

Heady hit free throws with 2:08 left and then again with 1:45 to go that made it a one-point game. Both teams had scoreless possessions before Vanderjagt’s tying free throws with 47 seconds left.

Central Michigan had an early 12-6 lead, but Mithcell tied the game with consecutive 3-pointers. The advantage grew to six on a couple of other occasions, including at 32-26 on a Cayden Vasko 3-pointer. Ohio answered with a Mitchell jumper, a Brown 3-pointer and then two Mitchell free throws to take its first lead since it was 3-0.

The Chippewas eventually extended their lead back to five two different times before settling on a three-point advantage at halftime.

Elliott had a good game for Ohio with nine points but also committed four fouls in 16 minutes. Vic Searls fouled out in only 14 minutes on the court, finishing scoreless with one rebound and four assists.

Vasko had eight points and eight rebounds for the Chippewas, who went 27 of 35 at the foul line and shot 42.6% from the field, including 9 of 18 on 3-pointers. The Bobcats shot 43.8%, making 14 of 29 (48.3%) 3-pointers, and went 14 of 20 on free throws.

There were only nine turnovers combined in the game.

Ohio hosts Akron at 6 p.m. Saturday at The Convo on ESPN2.