Toledo overcame a 15-0 deficit to start the game and then held off a late Ohio University charge to post a 77-73 win at home last night in a Mid-American Conference game.

Matt Smith had 18 points and Rian Pearson 18 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Rockets (11-13, 3-7), who had lost three straight.

D.J. Cooper scored 18 points for Ohio (19-5, 7-3), and Nick Kellogg of DeSales added 13. The Bobcats, who had won six straight, lost ground in the MAC East Division race to first-place Akron (9-1) and Buffalo (8-2), which is now alone in second.

The Bobcats trailed 70-61 with four minutes to go. Walter Offutt and Reggie Keely each hit two free throws and Cooper made a pair three-pointers and a shot in the lane to give the Bobcats a 73-72 lead with 1:35 to go.

But Ohio went cold from there, missing its final two shots. Toledo’s Curtis Dennis hit a jumper while being fouled and converted the free throw. Matt Smith added two free throws in the final second.

Akron 69, Western Michigan 66, OT — Quincy Diggs scored six of his 10 points in overtime, but it was Zeke Marshall’s two free throws with 37 seconds left that gave Akron (17-7, 9-1 MAC) a victory over host Western Michigan (10-14, 4-6). Alex Abreu scored 15 and Marshall 14 for Akron.

Kent State 62, Eastern Michigan 58 — Justin Greene scored 17 points and Carlton Guyton 10 to lead Kent State (17-6, 7-3 MAC) to a victory against host Eastern Michigan (10-14, 5-5). Randal Holt’s three-pointer put the Golden Flashes up 59-58 with 23 seconds remaining, and Patrick Jackson preserved the lead with a block of Darrell Lampley’s short shot attempt with six seconds left.

Bowling Green 61, Ball State 54 — A’uston Calhoun had 27 points and nine rebounds to lead visiting Bowling Green (12-11, 6-4 MAC). Jarrod Jones had 14 points and eight rebounds for Ball State (12-10, 4-6).

Northern Illinois 62, Miami University 59 — Tyler Storm scored 10 points to lead Northern Illinois (3-19, 2-8 MAC). Julian Mavunga scored 13 and Drew McGhee 11 for Miami (7-15, 3-7), whose season-high two-game winning streak was snapped.

Cincinnati 76, St. John’s 54 — Sean Kilpatrick scored 10 of his 14 points in the opening five minutes of the second half for Cincinnati (17-7, 7-4 Big East). D’Angelo Harrison had 15 points for host St. John’s (10-14, 4-8).

Xavier 84, Rhode Island 66 — Tu Holloway had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, getting Xavier’s offense going. The Musketeers (16-8, 7-3), who are second in the Atlantic 10, can grab at least a share of first place when it plays at Temple (18-5, 7-2) on Saturday. Rhode Island is 5-20 and 2-8.

Capital 86, Otterbein 75, OT — Kelly Winter had 25 points and Spencer Niekamp 16 to lead six players for Capital (14-7, 11-3, Ohio Athletic Conference) in double figures in an overtime win at the Capital Center.

Ben Jackson added 12, Jared Cashen 11, Michael Sommer 11 and Mitch Westerheide 10 for the Crusaders, who trailed the entire first half. They closed the deficit to three points at the break and tied the score at 55 after regulation.

The Crusaders took the lead for good on a Mitch Westerheide layup with 4:35 to go in overtime. They outscored the Cardinals 20-9 in overtime.

For Otterbein (7-14, 4-10), Max Van Meter had 18 points and Chris Davis 16 points and 14 rebounds. Tommy Waterwash added 11 points.