ATHENS, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team rallied from down by 16 in the second half to have a chance to tie at the buzzer, but the final shot came up empty as Ohio escaped with an 80-77 victory on Tuesday night (Jan. 20) at the Ohio Convocation Center. 

Dylan Ducommun (Geneva, Switzerland) led the Huskies with 23 points, Gianni Cobb (Chicago, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor) added 13 points and Makhai Valentine (Munhall, Pa./Steel Valley) chipped in 10 for NIU.

"You can't have 17 turnovers," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "I think that was the difference. We shot more free throws, we won the rebounding total by four, but you can't have 17 turnovers. Some of them weren't live ball, but they were possessions where we didn't get a shot. I thought we did enough to put ourselves in the game, we just didn't make shots when we needed to."

The Huskies led by a pair until a 5-0 burst gave Ohio a 10-8 lead with a little over 13 minutes to play in the opening half. Ducommun ended the run for the Bobcats with a triple as NIU regained the lead, 11-10. 

Ohio (11-9, 5-3 MAC) answered with the next eight as the Bobcats took an 18-11 lead just before the midway point of the half, forcing a NIU timeout. 

NIU was back within three after buckets from Valentine and Cobb, but Ohio responded with an 8-0 run as the Bobcats led 28-17 with six minutes left in the opening stanza. 

A pair of buckets from Ducommun ignited an 11-2 run for NIU to close the half. Valentine knocked in a triple, Taj Walters (Bronx, N.Y./Moravian Prep) added a pair of free throws and Daemar Kelly (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) scored off an offensive rebound just before the buzzer as the Huskies trimmed the Bobcat lead to just a pair, 32-30, at the half. 

Aidan Hadaway and JJ Kelly each had 11 points to pace Ohio in the opening 20 minutes; Ducommun had seven points to lead NIU. 

NIU (6-12, 2-5 MAC) scored the first four points of the second half on baskets from Ducommun and Hassan 'Tre' Washington (Providence, R.I./Prise Academy) as the Huskies moved in front, 34-32. 

Tied at 41, Ohio scored seven-straight to lead 48-41. NIU was back within three, 50-47, after a triple from the wing by Cobb with 12:46 to play. 

The Bobcat lead was still three when the hosts converted an old-fashioned three-point play and a triple from the corner to push their lead to 61-52 just past the midway point of the half. 

A jumper from the elbow extended the Ohio run to 8-0 before a free throw from Washington ended the Bobcat run and cut the lead to 63-53 with 9:11 left. Following the free throw, Ohio netted the next six to push their lead to 69-53 with 7:38 remaining. 

Washington finished with nine points and six rebounds for the Huskies. 

Back-to-back triples from Kelly and Valentine pulled NIU back within 10, 69-59, with 6:17 to play. 

A trio of free throws from Ducommun cut the Ohio lead to 71-64 with a little under five minutes to play.

Cobb knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:53 to go as the Huskies pulled within five, 75-70. 

With just 23 seconds left, Ducommun knocked in a three to bring the Huskies within a pair, 77-75. A pair of free throws from Ohio made it a four-point game before Walters scored to bring NIU back within two, 79-77, with 6.6 seconds left. 

Walters finished with nine points for the Huskies. 

After Ohio split a pair of free throws, NIU had a look at a three to tie but the shot was off the mark as the hosts held on for an 80-77 victory. 

Jackson Paveletzke finished with 23 points for Ohio, 19 of which came in the second half. Hadaway added 18 points, Kelly closed with 17 points and Dior Conners chipped in 11 points for the Bobcats. 

NIU will be on the road again on Saturday, Jan. 24, when the Huskies travel to Ball State. They will return home on Tuesday, Jan. 27, when they host Western Michigan at 7 p.m., tickets are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets.