BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Ohio tied the game with two minutes left after trailing by 13 in the second half but Bowling Green made the final run to take a 67-57 victory in a Mid-American Conference opener at the Stroh Center on Saturday evening.

Bowling Green used a 9-0 run to go up 52-39 with less than eight minutes remaining, and after Walter Offutt tied the game on a putback, the Falcons closed out the game by scoring 10 of the final 11 points.

Jordon Crawford finished with 16 points to lead four Bowling Green players in double figures. Dee Brown had 13, A’uston Calhoun finished with 12 and Scott Thomas scored 10 for the Falcons, who shot 52.2 percent.

The Bobcats, who made just 38.2 percent of their shots, were led by DJ Cooper’s 15 points. Ivo Baltic scored 14 points and Walter Offutt had 11 points.

Torian Oglesby swung the momentum back in the Falcons’ favor with an alley-oop dunk through contact.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Oglesby said. “I go out and do the things I need to do to win. (Crawford) knew I was going to catch the ball when he threw it up.”

He missed the free throw, but Bowling Green (7-7, 1-0 MAC) came up with the rebound. Calhoun missed a shot and Ogelsby cleaned up with another offensive rebound and layup to put the Falcons on top 60-56 with 1:24 remaining.

“Unacceptable,” Ohio coach John Groce said of allowing the offensive rebounds.

After a missed Cooper 3-pointer, Crawford knocked down two free throws and the Falcons were able to pull away.

“We’re just not very tough,” Groce said. “There’s a difference between effort and toughness. … We play hard, but there’s a toughness you have to have in this league to close out possessions and close out games.”

Crawford was instrumental in putting Bowling Green in control in the first place. After a Scott Thomas three-point play made it 43-36, Crawford scored three straight layups to go on top 52-39.

Thomas made a trey that put the Falcons up 10 at the 4:36 mark before the Bobcats made their push. Cooper hit a pair of free throws and then drilled a 3-pointer to force a timeout.

Baltic hit a jumper and Keely converted a layup to get Ohio within one. After Calhoun split a pair of free throws, Offutt followed a Baltic miss to tie the game at 56.

Ohio scored the game’s first six points, but Bowling Green eventually gook control, going up 17-12 on a Chauncey Orr 3-pointer. The Bobcats later led by as much as six, going on top with a Baltic three-point play and then a Cooper 3-pointer.

For the second straight game, Ohio struggled beyond the arc, making just 4 of 20 attempts. Bowling Green was 4 of 8.

It was the third time in four games that Ohio’s opponent shot better than 50 percent while giving up at least 38 percent shooting beyond the arc.

Groce said Ohio needs to find the toughness again on defense that it exhibited in a close loss to Louisville and wins against Marshall and Northern Iowa.

“We’ve got to get that back,” he said. “If you let teams shoot 50 percent every night from the field, in this league you’re going to be awful disappointed. We’ve got to figure that out real fast.”

The Bobcats forced 21 turnovers but had 18 of their own. Offutt had five steals and Cooper four, but he had only three assists with four turnovers. Baltic had five assists, but also five turnovers.

“We were awful taking care of the ball,” Groce said. “We had nine each half. Bowling Green was very active, but early, some of guys played like they never played against a 2-3 zone before.”

Ohio hosts Buffalo at 7 p.m. Wednesday.