BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Ohio cut a second-half 11-point deficit to one, but Bowling Green pulled away in the final minutes for a 73-61 victory at Anderson Arena on Wednesday night.

Scott Thomas led four Bowling Green players in double figures with 19 points, and he also pulled down nine rebounds to go with four assists and three steals.

Torian Oglesby posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards, while A’uston Calhoun and Luke Kraus scored 15 and 12 points, respectively, for the Falcons, who finished with 32 points in the paint.

Four Ohio players also reached double figures, led by D.J. Cooper, who had 18 points, but just four assists. Nick Kellogg (13 points), Ivo Baltic (11) and Tommy Freeman (10) also made contributions in the scoring column.

A Luke Kraus 3-pointer early in the second half put the Falcons (8-10, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) up 44-33, before the Bobcats (8-10, 1-3 MAC) cut the lead to five on a Cooper 3-pointer.

But a Dee Brown trey and a steal and dunk by Thomas put the Falcons back up by double-digits.

Neither team scored for nearly three minutes when Ohio began its final push with a 12-3 run.

It started with three Kellogg free throws with 11:40 to go. DeVaughn Washington scored in the paint, and after a Brown jumper, Washington hit two free throws and Freeman a layup to make the score 53-50.

After a free throw by Oglesby, Cooper drained another 3-pointer with 8:57 remaining.

Thomas had a jumper blocked, and Ohio had a chance to claim the lead, but Washington missed and Jordon Crawford assisted on a Calhoun dunk.

Baltic hit a jumper to cut the deficit to one again and Ohio had two chances to take the lead but committed turnovers on both possessions.

Calhoun scored in the paint, and Oglesby had consecutive dunks to go up seven with 4:12 remaining. The teams traded baskets until a Calhoun three-point play basically sealed the victory for Bowling Green with 1:31 to go, putting the Falcons up by eight.

Bowling Green took control early, scoring seven straight points after the game was tied at 8. Ohio battled back to take its only lead, 17-16, on a Baltic three-point play, and Kellogg later tied the score at 20 with a 3-pointer.

But Thomas hit a trey and a jumper and Oglesby got a layup to put the Falcons on top by seven. They led by as many as eight on another Thomas 3-pointer before taking a 34-29 lead into the locker room.

Both teams shot a high percentage, with Bowling Green making 50.9 percent of its attempts, including 7 of 14 3-point attempts and 12 of 15 free throws. Ohio connected on 45.6 percent of its field goal tries, 8 of 17 3-pointers and 9 of 10 free throws.

Seventeen turnovers, including four in their first five possessions, hurt the Bobcats. The Falcons had 13 turnovers and held a 29-25 advantage on the boards.

Ohio hosts Buffalo at 3 p.m. Saturday at The Convo. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.