NASHVILLE, Tenn. – One of the stingiest defenses in the nation was no match for D.J. Cooper, Walter Offutt and an Ohio basketball team determined to reach the school’s second-ever Sweet 16.

Offutt and Cooper combined for 40 points to lead the Bobcats past South Florida, 62-56, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., on Sunday night.

Against the nation’s second-best field goal percentage defense team, Ohio (29-7) recovered from a slow start to shoot 50 percent in the second half, coming back from a six-point halftime deficit.

Offutt drained all four of his 3-point attempts and scored 21 points to go with four steals, while Cooper finished with 19 points, dished out seven assists and grabbed six rebounds, as Ohio won two games in the tournament for the first time since 1964.

“We really wanted this,” Ohio’s Jon Smith said. “We really wanted to go to the Sweet 16. We really wanted to represent the (Mid-American Conference) and we did that.”

It is the MAC’s first Sweet 16 appearance since Kent State reached the Elite Eight in 2002, coached by South Florida’s current leader Stan Heath.

Victor Rudd Jr. and Anthony Collins had 13 points each to lead the Bulls, while Augustus Gilchrist scored 12 points. Rudd Jr. had a game-high 10 rebounds.

With South Florida (22-14) leading 46-44, Offutt knocked down a 3-pointer that spurred a 10-0 run that put it in control.

The Bulls went scoreless for four and a half minutes, allowing the Bobcats to add to their lead. Nick Kellogg connected from beyond the arc for a four-point lead. Offutt added a layup and Cooper two free throws for a 54-46 advantage.

From there, the lead remained at least five points until Gilchrist hit a 3-pointer with 50 seconds to go, making it 59-56.

Ohio did not crack, though. Cooper connected on a pair of free throws to make it a five-point game again.

Anthony Collins missed a 3-pointer and Toarlyn Firtzpatrick failed to convert a tip-in, and Cooper finally came up with the defensive board. He made one free throw with 15 seconds to go, and a final triple try by South Florida’s Shaun Noriega also was off the mark, leaving Cooper to dribble off the last few seconds as the Ohio crowd celebrated.

“I’m happy for a lot of people: our families, our coaching staff’s families, who have sacrificed a lot,” Ohio coach John Groce said. “I’m happy for Ohio University. I’m happy for Athens. It’s a special place. I’m happy for all of our former players, especially the ones I’ve had over the last four years. … Then obviously, my hat’s off to our guys. They’ve playing with such an extra ordinary toughness and I thought we were able to impose our will on both ends late in the game, trying to break away, and at the end of the day, that was the difference in the game.”

Ohio shot only 30.4 percent in the first half, falling behind, 27-21, despite a good start.

The Bobcats led 12-6 after a Cooper layup off a T.J. Hall steal and assist, but they went cold after that, making just 3 of 18 shots the rest of the way.

South Florida used a 10-0 run to take the lead, going up 16-12 on a Collins layup at the 9:05 mark. Victor Rudd Jr.’s 3-pointer made it 19-13.

Ohio got back to within one on a Hall 3-pointer and an Offutt layup, but South Florida bounced back with six straight points for its biggest lead, 25-18.

Cooper hit an off-balance 3-pointer from the corner, and Nick Kellogg got a wide-open 3-point look in transition that was off the mark. Instead, the Bulls got the final points of the half, two Collins free throws with less than a second remaining, to take a six-point lead at the break.

“Obviously the first half, our offense wasn’t quite going the way we wanted it to,” Groce said. “I thought our defense kept us right there.”

The Bulls shot 40.7 percent in the first half and connected on just 1 of 9 3-pointers.

Starting the second half strong was key for the Bobcats, who got a 3-pointer from Offutt on their first possession.

“Coach always preaches coming out strong in the second half and that’s what we did,” Offutt said.

A short time later, an Offutt 3-pointer tied the game at 31, but Ohio was not able to take the lead until much later in the second half.

Juwanza Poland threw down an alley-oop jam on a pass from Collins to put his team up five with 9:25 remaining, but he was called for a technical for hanging on the rim.

That turned momentum in favor of Bobcats, who got two technical free throws from Kellogg and then a 3-pointer from him that knotted the game at 42. A Cooper free throw with 8:34 to go gave the Bobcats their first lead of the second half.

“We pride ourselves in not beating ourselves,” Heath said. “… We’re a team that really feeds off momentum, and normally when we get a dunk like that, I think it energizes our defense and we get excited.”

The Bobcats survived despite giving up 10 offensive rebounds against the bigger Bulls, who also outscored them 32-12 in the paint.

“It was warfare on the glass,” Groce said. “They’re extremely physical. … I thought they were great on the glass. I thought they were relentless.”

Ohio had fewer turnovers, 10-9, and connected on a lower percentage of its shots, 43.5-39.5. But the Bobcats came up big at the line, making 19 of 25 attempts, compared to 14 of 19 by the Bulls. The Bobcats also were by far the better 3-point shooting team, going 9 of 18 while the Bulls were just 2 of 15.

Two years ago, after upsetting Georgetown, Ohio fell to Tennessee in the next round of the tournament. Things were different this year, though. The Bobcats’ players had their phones taken away for a period of time to limit distractions and the team had a different mindset this time around, Groce said.

“It felt differently when we walked off the floor on Friday night (after beating Michigan),” he said. “D.J. grabbed a couple of those guys and said, ‘Hey, act like you’ve been there before. We’re here to try to win two.’”

Offutt said he believed when he transferred from Ohio State to Ohio, he would have success, but “It’s one thing to talk about it and it’s another to actually do it.”

Up next is a Friday night Sweet 16 match-up against top-seeded North Carolina in St. Louis. Ohio needs to keep believing, Groce said.

“I admire those guys for having a vision that hadn’t taken place yet,” he said. “They’re buying in at such a high level to what we’re doing and what we’re telling them. I’m just so thankful for their coachability and teachability.”