ATHENS, Ohio – Walter Offutt led four Ohio players with 14 or more points by scoring 17 to lead Ohio to its ninth straight victory, 71-63, against Kennesaw State on Friday night at The Convo.

Ivo Baltic tallied 15 points and D.J. Cooper and Nick Kellogg each finished with 14 points to account for all but 11 of the Bobcats’ points in the game.

Markeith Cummings and Delbert Love had 19 points each to lead Kennesaw State (3-10). Spencer Dixon finished with 14 points.

The Bobcats (12-1) led just by a point at halftime, but Kellogg hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second half and Ohio started to take control.

Cummings tied the game at 42 with 12:30 remaining when Kellogg drilled another triple. Offutt hit a pair of free throws and Kellogg’s final 3-pointer made it an eight-point lead for Ohio.

Later, a Baltic layup gave the Bobcats their biggest lead, 61-47, with 6:58 remaining. A Cooper triple extended the advantage to 15 points with 3:26 to go.

After Kennesaw State got out to a 14-11 lead, Offutt hit a 3-pointer to start an 11-0 run, which was capped by an Offutt jumper at the 7:53 mark, giving the Bobcats a 22-14 lead.

But Kennesaw State rallied to make it close again and briefly tied the game at 26 late in the first half.

Ohio was 22 of 43 (45.0 percent) from the floor, including 9 of 21 on 3-point tries, and made 18 of 25 free throws. Kennesaw State was 22 of 49 (45.0 percent) from the field, including 8 of 21 on 3-pointers. It went 11 of 14 at the foul line.

Kennesaw State held a 30-26 rebounding edge, but had more turnovers, 16-12. Second chances were a key for Kennesaw State, which outscored Ohio 19-4 in that area with the Bobcats grabbing only four offensive boards.

Non-conference play comes to a close for the Bobcats with a 7 p.m. game Monday against Robert Morris at The Convo.