ATHENS, Ohio – Ohio scored 20 straight points during a 36-6 run to end the first half and the Bobcats went on to roll to an 81-63 victory against Northern Illinois on Wednesday night at The Convo.

Trailing 12-9 with 11:36 remaining in the first half, the Bobcats turned things around with a spurt fueled by their bench. Stevie Taylor scored all eight of his points during the span.

Walter Offutt led Ohio (12-5, 3-0 Mid-American Conference) with 19 points, while Reggie Keely finished the game with 12 points. D.J. Cooper had nine points, eight assists and four steals.

Abdel Nader had 16 points and seven rebounds to lead Northern Illinois (3-12, 1-2 MAC), but he made just 7 of 21 attempts. Keith Gray scored 14 points.

Aksel Bolin hit a pair of free throws to put Northern Illinois on top, 12-9, before Ricardo Johnson started Ohio’s run with a pair of free throws. Taylor and Nick Kellogg hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and Johnson assisted a Taylor layup off of a steal to put the Bobcats up, 19-12.

“The crowd played a big part,” said Johnson, who finished with nine points, three assists and three steals. “It helped our bench with the energy a little bit, getting us going.”

The run continued with 3-pointers by Taylor and Offutt, Keely scored in the paint and Cooper connected with Ivo Baltic on an alley-oop dunk to make it 29-12 with 5:35 remaining.

A Darrell Bowie jumper finally ended Northern Illinois’ drought of more than six minutes. Ohio, though, continued to pour it on, outscoring the Huskies, 16-4, during the final five minutes of the first half to go on top, 45-18.

The Bobcats emphasize scoring, getting stops and then scoring again, Christian said.

“We had 16 of them at halftime. That’s a staggering number. We have that type of team. We get stops and turn people over. When we play like that, we play well.”

Ohio shot 68 percent in the first half, compared to just 27.6 percent by Northern Illinois. The Bobcats were 7 of 11 from beyond the arc.

“They came out on all cylinders firing,” Northern Illinois coach Mark Montgomery said. “We tried to shrink it up to keep them out of the paint and they went on to make seven 3s in the first half. They’re probably the best spurt team in the league.”

The Bobcats held their largest lead of 33 points twice in the second half, at the 12:01 mark on an Offutt 3-pointer that made it 61-28 and with 8:34 remaining on a Keely dunk that put Ohio ahead 69-36.

Offutt went 6 of 8 from the field, including 3 of 5 from beyond the arc, to break out of a recent slump. He said he put some extra shooting time in recently.

“It’s crazy how that works,” he said. “When you do a little bit of extra and working hard, the shots start falling.”

The Huskies finished the game with 20 turnovers, compared to 15 for the Bobcats. It resulted in a 28-10 advantage in points off turnovers.

However, Northern Illinois outscored Ohio in the paint, 34-16, and on second-chance points, 18-6.

Christian said some of those disparities have happened in recent games after the Bobcats have built a big lead, but that does not make it any less disparaging.

“I love the game and I think every coach in the country thinks every second is the most valuable second of the game,” he said. “I don’t care who is out there. I’ll get just as mad at D-Mac out there for not blocking out as Walt. … These things bite you. … It’s disheartening to me that when we get leads, the last eight minutes of the game we don’t play as hard.”

Northern Illinois had 12 of its 17 offensive rebounds in the second half. The Huskies finished the game on a 27-12 run.

Ohio hosts Toledo at 6 p.m. Saturday.