ATHENS, Ohio – Ohio forced three of its Robert Morris’ 31 turnovers in the final minute, giving it a chance in the end, but the Bobcats missed a trio of 3-pointers that could have tied it in a 70-67 loss to Robert Morris at The Convo on Monday night.

Ohio (12-2) made just 3 of 26 3-point attempts on the night and lost to the Colonials for the third year in a row, failing to become the first Bobcats team ever to win 13 of their first 14 games.

“I thought their execution was better than ours,” Ohio coach John Groce said. “Having said that, I was really proud of our guys’ effort.”

The Bobcats, who trailed by eight with a minute to go, got a Reggie Keely basket and then forced three turnovers in 13 seconds to nearly steal the win.

TyQuane Goard stole the inbounds pass and made one free throw after being fouled and then another steal resulted in a wide-open dunk under the basket for Ricardo Johnson with 49 seconds remaining.

After Robert Morris (11-4) threw the ball away on the inbounds pass again, Ohio called timeout to set up a play. D.J. Cooper missed a 3-pointer, Walter Offutt missed a follow-up, and after another offensive board, T.J. Hall missed a triple try.

Russell Johnson missed on the front end of a one-and-one, giving the Bobcats one more chance, but Cooper’s off-balance 3-point attempt from the corner was way off the mark.

Ivo Baltic and Reggie Keely each scored 14 points for the Bobcats, while D.J. Cooper finished with 13 points, seven assists and three steals, but Ohio shot just 35.3 percent.

Velton Jones scored 17 points and dished out six assists, Coron Williams scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Johnson had 10 points for Robert Morris, which connected on 53.2 percent of its shot attempts and had 11 offensive rebounds of its 22 misses.

“It was either feast or famine tonight,” Groce said. “They were either turning the ball over or they were scoring. I think a big part of that is (getting) back 50 percent of the shots you miss.”

Robert Morris had two separate leads of 11 points, one with 2:55 remaining in the first half and the other with 15:48 to go in the game, but each time Ohio made runs to get back in it.

Lawrence Bridges put the Colonials up 32-21 with a putback, but the Bobcats ended the half on a 10-1 run that included eight points by Cooper, including a triple after a steal to close out the first half, making it 33-31.

Williams hit a 3-pointer barely four minutes into the second half that made it an 11-point game again, but Ohio slowly battled back. Stevie Taylor converted a three-point play off a steal to make it a one-point game and Nick Kellogg drilled a 3-pointer that briefly gave the Bobcats the lead, 54-52.

After a Colonials turnover, Walter Offutt missed an open 3-pointer. On the other end, Ohio forced a miss, but an offensive rebound got Jones an open triple that ultimately put Robert Morris on top for good.

“I thought that was critical,” Groce said. “The margin of error when you’re playing good teams is small.”

Ohio made 1 of 15 3-pointers in the second half. Cooper finished 2 of 12 overall and Hall struggled to an 0 for 7 night. The Bobcats also had their share of misses on good opportunities from inside the arc.

“You’ve got to man up and me in particular, I’m going to call myself out, I don’t think I did a very good job of finishing tonight,” said Offutt, who was 3 of 15 from the field.

Ultimately, though, Robert Morris’ second chances made the difference it being able to overcome its turnovers and are a big part for the team’s success this year. The Colonials came in ranked seventh in the nation in offensive rebound percentage and pulled in 17 offensive boards against Memphis.

“We’re not the first team they’ve gotten offensive rebounds against,” Groce said. “They’re darn good at it, but in my mind, I can see for or five of them where we did not block out. We just didn’t block out well enough and they got second-chance points and those are hard to defend.”

Five different players for Robert Morris finished with six or more rebounds, led by Williams and Lucky Jones with eight each. Keely led the Bobcats with five.

“To come in here and beat Ohio U. the way that they’ve been playing is pretty remarkable,” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said. “We have a ton of respect for what they’re doing and some of the opponents they’ve played this season and the way they’ve beat them.”

With its nine-game winning streak snapped, Ohio will get set to begin Mid-American Conference play Saturday.

“Tonight, we have to learn from getting beat,” Groce said. It’s not fun, but it is what it is.”

Ohio heads to the Stroud Center to face Bowling Green at 6 p.m.