ATHENS, Ohio – Ohio led by as many as 28 and rolled past Eastern Michigan, 79-65, to end a four-game home losing streak Wednesday night at The Convo.

DeVaughn Washington scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the way for the Bobcats, who shot a season-high 54 percent from the floor. Nick Kellogg scored 15 points, and D.J. Cooper had 12 points and seven assists.

“Any win feels good, but that was a big statement game for us to get a win at home,” Washington said. “Now we just have to move on and not be content with any win.”

Derek Thompson scored 13 points to lead the Eagles (5-14, 2-4 Mid-American Cofnerence). Leading-scorer Brandon Bowdry was held to eight points on 3-of-11 shooting in 20 foul-plagued minutes.

The Bobcats (9-11, 2-4 MAC) led 45-29 at halftime and took a 69-41 with 9:23 remaining.

For the first time in MAC play, Ohio won the battle of the boards and did so dominantly, giving up a season-low 23 rebounds while grabbing 36. It also had an advantage of 32-10 in points in the paint.

“We rebounded better,” Ohio coach John Groce said. “We were plus-13 on the glass. We got 26 out of 33 defensive rebounds and 10 out of 26 offensive rebounds, and that’s big for us. That’s big for us. Obviously DeVaughn, I’ve been challenging him a little bit lately. He’s probably tired of me, but I really felt like he was better on the glass than what he’d been giving us. I think he agreed with that and was able to come up with nine today. That’s the one area I tell guys all the time that I don’t mind if you’re selfish. Get as many as you can get.”

Ohio’s lead was just one with 10:59 remaining in the first half, but it scored seven straight points to take command.

Following a Thompson jumper that cut the Bobcats’ lead to five with 6:09 left in the first half, Ohio went on a 19-8 run to close out the first half.

Washington, Kellogg and Cooper all reached double-figures by halftime. The Bobcats were 7 of 10 from 3-point range in the first half and finished 7 of 12.

“Washington played very well,” Eastern Michigan coach Charles Ramsey said. “He destroyed our post guys all night. We never got him under control at all. I don’t know if was necessarily Brandon going out, because Brandon wasn’t on all cylinders on that end anyway. OU had a good rhythm, good tempo, they were playing very well together.”

Ivo Baltic, who played only seven first-half minutes due to foul trouble, scored the first seven points of the second half by taking the ball at Bowdry to immediately give the Bobcats a 23-point lead. Bowdry picked up his third foul on a three-point play with 17:49 left in the game.

From there, Ohio led by 20 or more until a final 14-2 run by Eastern Michigan.

The Bobcats made good at the free-throw line, going 18 of 23. The Eagles were 13 of 20.

Both teams finished with 17 turnovers.

“I’m really pleased — more than anything between the last game and today – with the progress our team has made mentally,” Groce said. “I really like our morale right now as much as I’ve liked it at any time during the year. Because of that I feel like we’ve got a chance to continue to get better. I thought we got better.”

Ohio faces Ball State, undefeated in its first five MAC games, at 2 p.m. Saturday in Muncie, Ind.