ATHENS, Ohio – Walter Offutt’s three-point play with 1:25 left in overtime sparked a run of nine straight Bobcats points in an 85-78 victory Tuesday night at The Convo.

Offutt, who had 13 points and nine rebounds, grabbed a miss off of a Reggie Keely miss and put it up and in with a foul, and his free throw gave the Bobcats a 79-75 lead.

D.J. Cooper iced the game with a 3-pointer for an 82-75 lead with 1:04 remaining, and the Bobcats closed out the game at the foul line.

“We went into the night wanting to play 40 minutes with our effort and our energy and our toughness and our togetherness,” Ohio coach John Groce said. “That was kind of our theme. We didn’t do a very good job of finishing the game the other day (against Tennessee-Martin). I thought we did that at a much higher level tonight than we did Sunday. It’s a great win for our team this early in the season, being in that situation. I thought our poise was tremendous.”

Cooper finished the night with 21 points, five rebounds and three assists. Ivo Baltic scored 14 points and reeled in nine rebounds and Stevie Taylor also scored 14 points in just 20 minutes for the Bobcats (2-0).

A three-point play by Cooper with 1:30 left in regulation put Ohio in the lead, 71-67, but Lamar (1-2) rallied. Osas Ebomwonyi hit a pair of free throws with 1:12 left and Charlie Harper scored on a putback with 24 seconds to go to tie it.

Cooper missed a shot in the paint in the final seconds, sending the game to overtime.

Mike James finished with 20 points and six assists, while Harper had 18 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals.

Ohio took a 34-29 lead into the locker room. Lamar tied the game at 44 and 48 and managed to take the lead at 61-60 with 6:11 remaining on an Anthony Miles free throw. A Harper layup put the Cardinals up 64-61 with 5:03 to go.

Lamar had a chance to increase its lead, but Keely blocked a Harper shot attempt and Taylor drilled a game-tying triple on the other end.

Nick Kellogg’s steal led to a fast break layup for Keely, and after Donley Minor’s 3-pointer put Lamar in the lead, 67-66, Offutt put Ohio back on top with a layup with 2:50 remaining.

After falling behind 3-2 to start the game, Ohio went on a 9-1 run to take a seven-point lead.

The Cardinals, though, scored eight straight points to go on top 12-11 at the 11:45 mark in the first half and they went up 19-13 on a Brandon Davis 3-pointer with 9:38 remaining.

Kellogg’s 3-pointer tied the game at 22, and Taylor later scored nine consecutive Ohio points with three-point play putting his team in control, 34-26.

“We stopped the ball and they kicked it for 3s or you let them go and now they’re getting layups,” Lamar coach Pat Knight said. “For the post’s sake, they’ve got a presence in the post that you’ve got to respect, so they’ve got everything you need.”

The Bobcats had their biggest lead, 40-31, on a pair of Cooper foul shots with 18:46 remaining.

Ohio held an 18-8 advantage in offensive rebounds, leading to a 20-8 advantage in second-chance points. The Bobcats also scored 17 points off turnovers, to just nine by the Cardinals.

In addition, Ohio made 21 of 26 free throws, all helping to make up for a 28 of 74 (37.8 percent) shooting night.

“Last year we had a tough time finishing out games like this, close games, so our confidence with the team we’ve got now with a bunch of sophomores, four juniors, I think we’ve just got a lot more confidence in our young guys, knowing they know how to finish out a game,” Keely said. “This early in the season, taking that to the rest of the season, I think that’s going to help a lot.”

The final of three straight home games to start the season for Ohio is set for 2 p.m. Sunday against Arkansas State.