ATHENS, Ohio – On Senior Day, Jaivon Harris led the Ohio men’s basketball team to a 60-59 victory over Mid-American Conference East Division winner Kent State at the Convocation Center Saturday afternoon. The senior from Alliance recorded 19 points and eight rebounds to give the Bobcats an impressive win heading into a MAC Tournament first-round game at Bowling Green on Monday.

“I’m just very, very happy for Delvar (Barrett), Thomas (Stephens) and Jaivon that they get to have a victory in their final home game at The Convo,” said Ohio head coach Tim O’Shea. “They’ve been through a tough year and have hung in there the whole time. I think they’ve laid a foundation for this program and these younger players.”

The Bobcats (10-19, 7-11 MAC) jumped on top early and led 35-20 at halftime. Harris led all scorers in the first half with 12 points, all on three-pointers.

With a Harris three extending the Ohio advantage to 49-32 with 9:44 remaining in the second half, the Golden Flashes began a comeback that would bring the lead to one, 58-57, with 43 seconds left.

After Stephens was fouled and converted both ends of a one-and-one to push the lead back to three, Bobcat freshman Sonny Troutman made his third steal of the day and Ohio regained possession with 14 ticks remaining.

With 11 seconds left, however, Harris missed the front end of a one-and-one and Kent State raced down the court for a three-pointer, which rattled out. The tip-in by Jason Edwin was good, though, and the Golden Flashes again trailed by only one with just a second remaining.

Following a Kent State timeout, Ohio safely in-bounded to Harris and the game was over, giving the Golden Flashes their fourth-straight loss for the first time since the 1997-98 season.

Terren Harbut was the only other Bobcat in double figures, scoring 12 points to go along with six rebounds. Troutman followed up with eight points and seven boards while junior center Clay McGowen grabbed a team-high nine rebounds along with his three points.

“Clay’s got to work on his offensive game so he gets a few post moves but defensively and rebounding, he has really come on,” said O’Shea about the 6-11 transfer from Westerville. “He is getting better and better. With a good spring and summer, he could do some serious damage in this league but he’s got to get some post moves.”

Jeff Halbert (five points), Barrett (four) and James Bridgewater (two) rounded out the scoring for Ohio.

Eric Haut led Kent State (20-7, 13-5 MAC) with 13 points while Edwin contributed 11 and John Edwards nine points and 11 rebounds to the losing effort.

For the game, the Bobcats held a distinct advantage in both steals (8-4) and rebounds (43-34).