ATHENS – Ohio could not get its offense going while dropping a 68-58 decision to Bowling Green to begin Mid-American Conference play Saturday at The Convo.

The Bobcats (5-7, 0-1 MAC) shot 37.0% and had 15 turnovers as their four-game winning streak was snapped.

Jackson Paveletzke was the only Ohio play to score in double figures, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting. The rest of the team was 10 of 36 (27.8%).

Javontae Campbell had 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, with Sam Towns adding 16 points and eight boards for the Falcons (9-3, 1-0 MAC).

Things started well enough for the Bobcats, who went up 10-8 just four and a half minutes into the game on a Paveletzke jumper. The Falcons scored the next seven points, but Ohio hung tough for a while, trailing 17-16 after Kiir Kuany’s 3-pointer at the 12:06 mark.

It was 28-25 following an Aidan Hadaway jumper with about five minutes to go. Bowling Green finished the half on a 14-4 run to move in front 42-29.

A Paveletzke 3-pointer cut the deficit to single digits at 42-33 early in the second half, but the Falcons did not let it get any closer. A trio of Campbell free throws made it 54-36, and a Troy Glover II dunk later gave his team its biggest lead of 60-41 with 7:46 left.

Ohio made it somewhat interesting in the final minutes with a 13-0 run, with a Paveletzke basket making it 62-56 with 1:38 left. The Bobcats forced a miss at the shot clock buzzer, but the Falcons got the offensive rebound and then ran the clock down to 32 seconds before Campbell made two more free throws to help put it away.

Ajay Sheldon had nine points for Ohio on 3-of-9 3-point shooting. Hadaway had seven points and 10 rebounds, and Javon Simmons scored seven points but fouled out in just 20 minutes on the court.

Bowling Green shot 30.8% and scored just 26 points in the second half, finishing the game at 41.5% from the field. It helped its cause by going 19 of 23 on free throws.

The Bobcats host Miami-Hamilton at noon Monday before heading into full-time MAC play.