KENT, Ohio – D.J. Cooper hit the go-ahead free throws with 55 seconds left and the Ohio defense held Kent State on two possessions as the Bobcats remained undefeated in Mid-American Conference play with their seventh straight win, 69-68, at the MAC Center on Saturday night.

Cooper finished with 23 points and five assists, while Reggie Keely scored 20 points for the Bobcats (15-5, 6-0 MAC), off to their first 6-0 MAC start since 1974.

After Cooper’s free throws, Evans traveled with 42 seconds remaining. Kent State (11-9, 2-4 MAC) got a stop, blocking Cooper with eight seconds to go. Randall Holt raced up the court with the ball and pulled up for a shot in the paint, but it bounced off the back iron, sending the Golden Flashes to their third straight MAC home loss.

“We couldn’t do much, but get it and go and try to get the best shot possible,” Holt said. “It was just unfortunate it didn’t go in. It was a very good look. It just didn’t drop.”

Evans paced Kent State with 20 points and seven assists, while Holt finished with 14 points and Darren Goodson scored 10.

Nick Kellogg’s steal and layup gave Ohio a 60-52 lead with 7:46 remaining, but Kent State came back with 11 straight points, tying the game on an Evans 3-pointer and then taking a three-point lead on an Evans three-point play at the 4:43 mark.

Keely had the Bobcats’ next seven points, scoring a free throw and then three baskets in a row – all on assists from Cooper. The last one with 1:57 remaining put the Bobcats up 67-66.

“Reg knows how to find the holes, especially when I’m driving,” Cooper said. “Both of the guys were sagging all game and they left and I just kind of read it and dumped it off to him.”

But after a Kris Brewer layup just before the shot clock expired put the Golden Flashes back on top, Cooper called his own number, taking the ball all the way to the basket, drawing a foul and then sinking both free throws for the last of 20 lead changes in the game.

After Brewer’s block on Cooper on the next Ohio possession, Evans gathered the loose ball and got to Holt, whose final shot came within a few feet of the basket. While Holt was 3 of 6 from beyond the arc, he ended up 0 for 6 inside it.

“Obviously Holt had a great look at the buzzer and sometimes those shots go in and you’re miserable and other times they don’t and you’ve very happy for the three-hour bus ride home,” Ohio coach Jim Christian said.

Holt hit a long, contested 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to put Kent State up 36-32, marking the first time in the game either team led by more than three. The Golden Flashes held their biggest lead of the game, 44-39, after a free throw by Melvin Tabb with 16:39 remaining, but Ohio answered with an 11-2 run.

Nick Kellogg drained a trey and Cooper hit a shot in the paint to tie the game before an Evans dunk briefly gave the lead back to the Golden Flashes. Jon Smith converted a layup to tie at 46 and then Cooper took over during the next three minutes by scoring seven straight points – his 3-pointer at the 11:32 mark put Ohio on top, 53-46.

Kent State had 13 of its 20 turnovers in the second half, including five of them during the Bobcats’ biggest second-half run.

“I think we turned the ball over too many times in the second half,” Kent State coach Rob Senderoff said. “I think that goes without saying.”

Ohio struggled from long range, making just 5 of 20 attempts, but it still managed to shoot 50 percent overall, with that percentage exactly in each half.

Cooper was 8 of 13, while Keely made 9 of 13 attempts.

“Offensively, (Keely) was phenomenal,” Christian said. “The one thing we’ve been harping on Reggie and Ivo is to run down the middle of the floor and when the game was on the line, that’s what he did. … When he runs down the floor, it opens up our 3-point shooters and also down the stretch, those are the kind of things that win basketball games for you.”

Kent State shot 43.8 percent from the field but grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and got to the foul line far more often, cashing in on 20 of 26 attempts. Ohio was 8 of 10.

The Golden Flashes had 36-21 rebounding advantage overall, getting six from Tabb. Ivo Baltic, who was scoreless, led Ohio with four rebounds, while adding four assists and four steals.

The Bobcats return home to face Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m. Wednesday at The Convo.