BUFFALO, N.Y. – Ivo Baltic and D.J. Cooper each scored 24 points and Ohio returned the favor against Buffalo, rallying in the second half on the road for a 76-69 victory at Alumni Arena on Tuesday night.

While the Bulls came back from 18 down earlier this season at The Convo, the Bobcats won after trailing by eight.

Zach Filzen and Javon McCrea had 15 points each to lead the Bulls.

After trailing 32-24 at halftime, Ohio (13-13, 6-6 Mid-American Conference) outscored Buffalo 52-37 in the second half. The Bobcats shot just 33.3 percent in the first half and 73.9 percent in the second half, including going 5 of 7 beyond the arc after starting just 1 of 6. Baltic scored 20 of his points after the break.

Even so, the Bulls (15-9, 7-5 MAC) led 60-54 with eight minutes remaining before the Bobcats went on an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the game. After a DeVaughn Washington dunk, Baltic scored six in a row to put Ohio in control, 62-60.

After Byron Mulkey’s layup tied the game, a Nick Kellogg free throw put the Bobcats up, and after Buffalo regained the lead on a Dave Barnett putback, Cooper hit a stepback jumper to with less than four minutes left that put Ohio back on top.

Barnett got another offensive board that led to one free throw to tie the game one last time before Ohio went ahead for good on another Cooper jumper with 2:51 to go.

After a turnover, Baltic hit two at the line four a four-point lead with 2:06 to go, and after Filzen cut his team’s deficit back to two with a jumper in the lane, Cooper hit a 3-pointer with 1:32 to go after a loose ball rebound by Baltic for a 72-67 advantage.

From there, the Bobcats closed out the game at the free throw line.

Buffalo led by as much as 11 in the first half before Ohio got as close as 24-22 on a Cooper 3-pointer late in the first half. McCrea had six points during an 8-0 Buffalo run, though.

Baltic scored the final basket of the first half and the first hoop of the second half, and Tommy Freeman made a 3-pointer to draw the Bobcats to within three, but the Bulls quickly got the lead back to eight.

Barnett dunked for a 48-39 Buffalo lead with 13:57 remaining, and after Ohio got as close as two, the Bulls pushed their lead to 56-49 with 9:17 to go.

Both teams shot 50.9 percent from the floor. The Bobcats got their advantage at the foul line, going 16 of 22 compared to just 6 of 10 by the Bulls.

Buffalo also had 16 turnovers to just nine by Ohio, giving the Bobcats a 25-9 advantage in points off turnovers. The Bulls, though, held a 15-9 second-chance points advantage.

Washington scored 12 points for Ohio, but had just one rebound. Freeman made 3 of 6 3-pointers to finish with nine points.

Mulkey scored 13 points and dished out four assists for the Bulls. McCrea and Barnett led the team with six rebounds each.

Buffalo had no steals. Cooper and Washington led Ohio with three each. Cooper also had five assists, while Baltic had a team-high nine rebounds.

Ohio plays its Bracket Buster game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Winthrop in Rock Hill, S.C.