ATHENS – Ohio made a push at the end of each half, but Eastern Michigan held on for an 83-79 victory to spoil senior day Tuesday night at The Convo.

A late run in the first half erased a 15-point lead by the Eagles and tied the score, but Eastern Michigan rebuilt its lead to as big as 12 points in the second half and was able to maintain an advantage in the end.

The victory by the Eagles (16-14, 9-8 Mid-American Conference) gave them a series sweep on the season and clinches them a spot for them in the MAC Tournament. It makes things extremely tight for the middle seeds in the tournament, putting them just a game behind the Bobcats (16-14, 10-7 MAC), who are tied for third with Kent State.

Jackson Paveletzke led Ohio with 20 points and five assists, but he also had five turnovers. Shareef Mitchell scored 17 points, but it came on 4-of-17 shooting.

Christian Henry scored a game-high 23 points for Eastern Michigan.

The Bobcats never led. The Eagles jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead and later led 18-10 on a Yusuf Jihad tip-in at the 11:05 mark in the first half. The lead grew to 24-12 on a Henry jumper, and after Ohio cut the deficit to seven, an 8-0 run, capped by a Da’sean Nelson layup, made it 32-17.

Ohio responded with 12 straight points, with a Mitchell 3-pointer making 32-29 just three minutes later. A Clayton free throw made it a two-point game, and after a missed Jalen Terry shot in the final five seconds, Paveletzke made a buzzer-beating jumper at the other end for his 1,000th career point, tying the game at 38.

Elmore James and Clayton answered a pair of Eagles 3-pointers to start the second half with two of their own to tie the score once more, but Henry hit a jumper that ultimately put Eastern Michigan up for good. The margin remained close, but back-to-back 3s from Jihad and Henry in the middle of the half grew the advantage to 67-58.

Nelson later scored a jumper and then had a steal that led to a Jalin Billingsley dunk to make it 73-61 with 5:42 remaining.

Ohio scored the next seven points and cut its deficit to 73-68 with 1:53 to go. From there, Eastern Michigan was able to answer each Ohio basket. An Ajay Sheldon 3-pointer got the Bobcats as close as 77-73 with 34 seconds left, but the Eagles put the game away at the free-throw line.

Clayton had 12 points and six rebounds in his final home game. James had 11 points, and Vic Searls scored 10 points in 12 minutes off the bench. AJ Brown sat out with a shoulder injury.

Terry finished with 15 points and six rebounds, while Nelson had 14 points, six assists and five rebounds. Arne Osojnik added 13 points, and Jihad had 10 points. Billingsley added eight points and seven boards.

Ohio shot 43.6% for the game, 39.1% from long range and was 22 of 29 at the foul line. Eastern Michigan made 51.7% of its shots, including 6 of 15 3-pointers (40%), and was 17 of 19 on free throws.

The 3-6 seeds in the MAC tournament will be up for grabs on the final night of regular season MAC play. Ohio closes out its regular season at 7 p.m. at Toledo (9-8 MAC). At the same time, Kent State hosts Eastern Michigan. Bowling Green and Western Michigan, both 8-9 in MAC play, also meet.