KENT – DeVaughn Washington scored 20 points, including the game-winning runner in the lane with 15 seconds left as Ohio beat Kent State on the road for the first time in 10 years, 88-87, in overtime, on Saturday night at the MAC Center.

The Bobcats led by as many as 21 points in the second half and trailed by five in overtime in a game with huge momentum shifts. It was Ohio’s fourth straight victory and its eighth win in its last 10 games.

Rodriguez Sherman, Justin Greene and Carlton Guyton scored 21, 19 and 18 points, respectively, for the Golden Flashes, but it was Michael Porrini who missed the team’s last-second shot in overtime. Greene also collected 15 rebounds.

D.J. Cooper dished out 14 assists for Ohio (16-13, 8-6 Mid-American Conference) and scored 10 points. Ivo Baltic scored 16 points, Nick Kellogg had 15 points, and Tommy Freeman finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.

Ohio dominated the first half and pushed its lead all the way up to 56-35 on Kellogg’s fifth 3-pointer of the game with 15:27 remaining, but it did not take long for Kent State to rally back.

The Golden Flashes (19-10, 10-4 MAC) took a 70-69 lead on a Justin Greene jump shot with 5:29 to go.

Five straight Bobcats points put them on top 74-70, and a Baltic jumper with 2:29 showing on the clock put Ohio up by three.

Kent State fought back again and tied it at 77 on a Greene layup with 56 seconds remaining.

Cooper missed a 3-pointer, and after an offensive rebound, the Bobcats were able to hold for the final shot, but could managed no better than another Cooper shot attempt from way behind the line that was off the mark again.

Sherman got a layup and Porrini connected on a 3-pointer to start overtime, and the Golden Flashes lead still was five points with less than three minutes remaining.

Washington threw down a dunk, and after Guyton hit one free throw, Freeman hit two free throws and Ricardo Johnson completed a three-point play to rally the Bobcats to an 86-85 advantage with 1:25 remaining.

Greene made one free throw to tie the game, and after a missed Baltic jumper, Eric Gaines made one free to put his team on top with 42 seconds left, before Washington’s highly-contest shot turned out to be the winner.

A three-point play by Washington opened the game, and the Bobcats raced out to an 8-0 lead.

After Kent State cut its deficit to four, Ohio scored eight in a row again to go on top 19-7.

Ohio’s first-half lead was as big as 18, but Kent State scored the final four points, including two free throws just before intermission after a Cooper personal foul and technical foul.

The Bobcats also had another technical foul in the second half against Reggie Keely, and the Golden Flashes scored 11 points in a row during a 15-1 run.

After Ohio got the lead back to 11 points, Kent State regained the momentum with 10 consecutive points, getting to within one with just less than eight minutes still remaining.

Just as the Golden Flashes did in Athens, they dominated the Bobcats on the boards with 21 offensive rebounds helping them get 17 more field goal attempts. Ohio connected at a much higher clip, though, making 52 percent to 40 percent by Kent State.

In Ohio’s dominant first-half effort, it made 56.7 percent of its shots, compared to just 26.5 percent by Kent State. The Golden Flashes bounced back to make 50 percent of their tries in the second half.

Ohio plays its final regular season home game and goes for a season series sweep of Akron at 7 p.m. Tuesday.