KENT – Ohio’s offense went ice cold against the hottest team in the Mid-American Conference, with Kent State dominating early in a 75-52 victory Friday night at the MAC Center.

The Bobcats went without making a field goal for more than 10 minutes to start the game, and the Golden Flashes built a 45-15 halftime lead to cruise to their eighth straight victory.

Ohio (22-5, 13-3 MAC) missed its first 13 shots from the field before a short jumper by Ben Roderick with 9:08 remaining. Nine of those 13 misses were from 3-point range, and the Bobcats ended up missing all 15 attempts from long range in the first half. Ben Vander Plas scored a layup on the next possession, and then Ohio missed its final 10 shots before the break.

"It's one game," Ohio coach Jeff Boals said. "We didn't answer the bell for the first time all year. They came out ready to play and got on us early and delivered the first, second, third blow."

In his return from an injury, Jason Carter led Ohio with 12 points, while Ben Vander Plas and Mark Sears scored 10 points each.

While the Bobcats struggled to a 23.1% shooting night, including a 2-of-25 performance in the first half, the Golden Flashes (17-9, 12-4 MAC) were a sound 52% from the floor, including 8 of 17 from long range.

"They're good looks and when one doesn't go, then the second doesn't go it becomes mental," Boals said. "But second half we came out and competed and played really hard. And I was most proud to see that effort level the second half."

Kent State had plenty of balance, getting 14 points each from Malique Jacobs and Giovani Santiago. Sincere Carry added 12 points.

The Golden Flashes’ biggest lead was 58-24 with 14:33 remaining.

Free throws provided almost all of Ohio’s offense in the first half and nearly half of it in the game with a 23-of-33 performance.

With the victory, Kent State is only one game back of Ohio and Toledo (12-3 MAC) in the loss column in the MAC standings.

Ohio tries to bounce back when it hosts Central Michigan at 7 p.m. Tuesday.