CLEVELAND – Kent State went on a big run early in the second half to build a lead and held off a late push to end Ohio’s season 86-75 in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament Thursday night at Rocket Arena.

The No. 3 seed Golden Flashes led by only two at halftime. The No. 6 Bobcats tied it and then were down three when Kent State scored 10 straight points to take control, eventually leading by as many as 16 points. Ohio closed the gap to five late and had a chance to get closer.

Aidan Hadaway led the Bobcats (15-17) with 24 points and seven rebounds, but his career came to an abrupt end when he was called for a fourth fall and then a subsequent technical for his fifth with 9:50 remaining. The subsequent free throws gave the Golden Flashes their biggest lead of 67-52.

Javan Simmons scored 22 points, and his final game, Jackson Paveletzke went just 2-for-10 and scored 12 points with seven assists.

Gillespie Delrecco was a load for the Golden Flashes (24-8) with 27 points and eight rebounds, while Morgan Safford provided 24 points and six rebounds. Rob Whaley Jr. had 14 points, and Cian Medley finished with 11 points and seven assists.

Things started to get away from Ohio beginning with a Gillespie layup three minutes into the second half that began Kent State’s big run. Safford followed with a 3-pointer and then two free throws, and Rayvon Griffith added a layup off of a turnover. Safford capped the run with a free throw, making it 58-45 with 13:27 remaining.

Jalen Breath finally snapped the skid with a layup, but Medley answered with a 3-pointer. After a Breath free throw, Whaley scored a basket that gave the Golden Flashes their first 15-point lead.

Kent State’s matched that advantage a couple of times before Ohio’s late comeback attempt. An Ajay Sheldon 3-pointer cut it to single digits at 73-64 with 5:35 to go, and Simmons made it 75-68 on a layup with 4:20 remaining. Paveletzke followed with a basket to make it a five-point game.

It was five points again after a Simmons layup with 1:42 to go, and on the next possession, he missed a pair of free throws that could have cut it to three. From there, the Golden Flashes made enough foul shots of their own to close it out.

Neither team led by more than four until late in the first half. Hadaway hit a 3-pointer to give Ohio a 32-28 lead with four minutes to go. Kent State scored the next eight points to take its biggest lead to that point and went up five on a Safford 3-pointer. Hadaway closed out the half with a trey to make it 40-38.

Getting extra time late in place of Hadaway, Breath had a strong final game, scoring seven points with seven rebounds in 17 minutes. Despite having shot well down the stretch, Sheldon went just 1-for-6 and scored three points to close out his career. Freshman JJ Kelly also struggled, scoring just three points.

Ohio shot 43.4% for the game and went 24 of 32 on free throws but could not find the mark from distance, going 5 of 22. Hadaway excluded, the Bobcats were just 1 of 13, and they had 12 turnovers to the Golden Flashes’ five.

Kent State shot 47.5% overall, including 7 of 20 on 3-pointers, and went 21 of 29 on foul shots.

It was the second straight season the Bobcats failed to finish over .500 after going 16-16 last year. They had a losing record for the first time since going 14-17 in 2018-19.

The Golden Flashes advance to the semifinals to take on rival and No. 2 seed Akron at 7:30 p.m. today. In the first semifinal at 5 p.m., No. 4 Toledo takes on No. 8 UMass, which handed No. 1 Miami its first loss of the season.