CLEVELAND – Jackson Paveletzke scored 25 points to help push Ohio to an 88-83 victory against St. Bonaventure as part of the Cleveland Hoops Showdown on Saturday at Rocket Arena.

Javan Simmons added 17 points, while JJ Kelly and Aidan Hadaway added 14 points each as the Bobcats (4-5) extended their winning streak to three games with their best victory of the season.

The Bonnies (10-2) previously had only lost to North Carolina. Frank Mitchell had 27 points and 14 rebounds – nine of them on the offensive end. Dasonte Bowen added 15 points.

After giving up a late lead in regulation, Ohio finally put St. Bonaventure away late in overtime with a late 7-0 run, spearheaded by Simmons and Paveletzke, that turned a two-point deficit into a five-point lead.

Trailing 79-77 after two Cayden Charles free throws with 2:31 left in the extra period, the Bobcats’ got a tying basket, assisted by Paveletzke. Simmons added a free throw for the lead, and then after a St. Bonaventure turnover, scored a layup to make it 82-79 with a minute to go.

After a missed 3-pointer, Paveletzke made a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to make it a two-possession game. Kelly followed with two more from the line to answer a quick layup from the Bonnies, and Paveletzke added another basket to close it out.

Ohio seemed in position to win it at the end of regulation, with Paveletzke draining a 3-pointer that put his team up 68-65 with 1:45 left. He then answered a Mitchell tip-in with a jumper on the other end to keep the margin at three.

Daniel Egbuniwe made two free throws with 17 seconds to go, making it 70-69, and the Bonnies got a jump ball turnover rather than being called for a foul to give them a shot to win it. Bowen split a pair of free throws with two seconds left, and a Paveletzke heave at the buzzer was off the mark.

That whole series followed St. Bonaventure erasing a seven-point deficit that was the largest of the game by either team. An Ajay Sheldon 3-pointer gave Ohio a 56-49 lead with 7:28 to go. The Bonnies came back with the next seven points to tie it in just over a minute.

Ohio went back up by seven, 65-58, only two minutes later with an 8-1 run, capped by a Paveletzke jumper at the 5:03 mark. Once again, St. Bonaventure scored the next seven points to tie it.

The Bobcats also had a seven-point lead in the first half at 22-15 on a Hadaway 3-pointer. After trading baskets a couple of times, the margin was back at seven, but the Bonnies trimmed it to 34-32 by halftime as the Bobcats did not score in the final 3:51 of the half.

St. Bonaventure carried the run into the second half with seven more points, 11 in total, in a row to go up 39-34, but back-to-back baskets by Simmons made it a one-point game again. Ohio worked its way into the lead after that, going up by seven again on a Simmons dunk with 9:16 remaining and then again a short time later on the Sheldon 3.

The Bobcats finished the game shooting 55.6% and went 11 of 13 at the foul line. The Bonnies shot 43.7% and benefitted from going 17 of 19 on free throws.

Ohio goes for a fourth straight win when it hosts Ohio Wesleyan at 7 p.m. Tuesday at The Convo.