ATHENS, Ohio – Reggie Keely scored a career-high 24 points on 9-of-9 shooting and Ohio pulled away down the stretch for a 76-67 victory against Toledo on Saturday night at The Convo.

Walter Offutt had 14 points, and for the second straight game, Ricardo Johnson was big off the bench with 13 points and a team-high six rebounds. Ivo Baltic had 13 points, while D.J. Cooper finished with seven points and nine assists.

Matt Smith paced the Rockets (6-9, 2-2 Mid-American Conference) with 16 points, while the MAC’s leading scorer Rian Pearson was held to 14 points. Dominique Buckley finished with 13 points.

Toledo led 36-33 at halftime, but Ohio (13-5, 4-0 MAC) scored the first eight points of the second half and never trailed again. Keely hit two free throws, Baltic knocked down a jumper, Offutt completed a three-point play and Baltic added a free throw for a 41-36 Bobcats advantage at the 17:28 mark.

“We probably could have played better, especially in the first half defensively, but we responded with six straight stops to start the second half,” Ohio coach Jim Christian said. “… It was one of those nights where we had to find a way to win where some of our key components weren’t working.”

Ohio was just 4 of 17 from 3-point range but shot 50.9 percent overall and got to the foul line 31 times, making 18.

Repeatedly, Toledo got within a single point and the Rockets were down only three on a Pearson putback at the 7:56 mark. Johnson rebounded an Ohio miss and was fouled, making one of two to start a five-point run. Stevie Taylor knocked down a long 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer and Keely added a free throw with 5:13 remaining to put the Bobcats up, 67-59.

“Three plays in a row, (Taylor) deflects the ball out of bounds, hits the 3 and then takes a charge,” Christian said. “That sequence of events was huge. He’s played really well the last few games. He’s figured out what we need from him.”

The Rockets got only as close as six after that.

After forcing just four turnovers in the first half, the Bobcats got the Rockets to commit 10 of them in the second half. Toledo also shot 37.9 percent in the second half after connecting on 57.7 percent of their attempts before the break.

“If we compete like we did tonight, we’ll win a lot of games this year,” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “… We came in here and stood toe-to-toe with a Sweet 16 caliber team. The start of the second half turning the ball over probably was the key.”

Ohio’s biggest run actually began at the end of the first half after it fell behind, 36-30. Keely scored the final three points to get the Bobcats within three.

The Bobcats’ biggest lead of the first half was 17-12 on a Cooper layup at the 13:52 mark and two more times after that – on a Johnson three-point play and then later on a Johnson jump shot.

“I’ve been on (Johnson) a little bit,” Christian said. “He was one of our best rebounders and then he went away from that. Tonight, he went after it. He had two huge ones. That’s the kind of guy Ric is. He doesn’t say much, but he plays so hard.”

Toledo, though, used an 8-0 run that included five points from Smith to turn a 30-28 deficit into a 36-30 advantage.

Keely’s career included knocking down some long jumpers in addition to his typical post play.

“Those were the shots I was getting and fortunately I was knocking them down,” Keely said. “It’s a credit to my teammates to find me when I was open.”

He also was 6 of 11 at the foul line, nearly getting more attempts than all of Toledo, which finished 10 of 13.

“(Keely) did some things we didn’t see him do,” Kowalczyk said. “He stepped out and hit some jump shots. But the fact he had 11 foul shots and Rian Pearson didn’t, something’s wrong with that. If Keely had 11 free throws, Pearson should have had 11.”

Pearson was 4 of 7 on free throws and himself fouled out in the final minutes, along with Buckley and center Nathan Boothe. Foul trouble was a detriment to the Rockets, who went only seven deep.

Toledo finished with 14 turnovers, while Ohio had only five. That led to a 16-4 Bobcats advantage in points off turnovers.

Ohio travels to Miami to face the RedHawks at 7 p.m. Wednesday.