ATHENS – AJ Clayton knocked down a career-high nine 3-pointers and scored 31 points as Ohio blew out Northern Illinois 108-70 in Mid-American Conference play Saturday afternoon at The Convo.

Clayton went 9-for-10 from long range, making his first eight attempts, before finally missing with still 15:44 left in the second half. He connected again on his last attempt three minutes later and subbed out with 12:25 left in the game, returning to play just a couple more minutes after that. He played just 18 minutes.

Jackson Paveletzke added 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting and five assists in 23 minutes. Shareef Mitchell scored 15 points with six rebounds and five assists, and Aidan Hadaway had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. Elijah Elliott added 10 points and six rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench.

The Bobcats (9-6, 3-0 MAC) shot 61.7% overall, including 17 of 31 (54.8%) from long range, and made 17 of 25 free throws, easily overcoming 15 turnovers.

Ohio never trailed, taking the lead for good at 4-2 on a Paveletzke jumper, but Northern Illinois (4-11, 0-3 MAC) stayed close early, cutting its deficit to 15-14 on a James Dent Jr. layup with 14:36 left in the first half.

AJ Brown connected from long range, and after a Quentin Jones jumper, Clayton drained a 3-pointer while being fouled and then completed the four-point play. He answer Nasir Muhammad’s trey with one of his own, and the lead reached double digits at 29-19 with buckets by Ajay Sheldon and Vic Searls.

After the Huskies cut it to five, Clayton drained another 3-pointer, but the Bobcats’ big run came after Northern Illinois got to within six. Ohio scored nine straight – without any Clayton 3-pointers in that stretch – to go up 43-28. The Bobcats led 57-39 at halftime.

Clayton helped put the game away early in the second half. He hit a 3-pointer that made it 62-41 and then hit back-to-back treys to put Ohio in front 68-44. He extended the lead to 76-49 on his second four-point play of the day. Mitchell eventually capped a 9-0 run with two free throws for an 81-49 advantage with 12:02 left in the game.

Jones led Northern Illinois with 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Quaran McPherson scored 14 points, and Dent and Muhammad both had 12 points.

The Huskies shot just 38.8% for the game, going 10 of 30 from long range, and were only 8 of 18 at the foul line. Ohio had a 46-28 rebounding advantage.

Ohio hosts Ball State at 7 p.m. Tuesday at The Convo.