ATHENS – AJ Clayton had a hot start, and Jackson Paveletzke posted a double-double as Ohio rolled to a 78-58 victory against Austin Peay on Wednesday night at The Convo.

Clayton scored 13 of his 22 points in the opening six and a half minutes as the Bobcats (5-6) ran out to a quick 18-5 lead. Things only got worse in the first half for the Governors, who trailed 49-22 at halftime.

Paveletzke finished with 18 points and added 11 assists and three steals. Clayton had a team-leading six rebounds. AJ Brown and Ajay Sheldon added nine points each as Ohio went 12 of 24 from long range.

Clayton’s early outburst of 3-pointers included a four-point play. After trailing 20-5, Austin Peay (4-7) settled in for a while, but things really got away from it late in the first half.

Already leading 31-18, the Bobcats outscored the Governors 18-4 over the final 5:45 before the break. That included scoring the final 11 points to make it a 27-point margin.

That was as big as the lead got. In the second half, Austin Peay was able to trim a few points off of its deficit before Ohio matched the biggest margin of the night at 76-49 on a Clayton layup with 5:19 remaining.

The Bobcats shot 52% overall, including 57.1% in the first half. The Governors shot just 37.8% on the night, and although they got to the foul line often, they went just 19 of 34 there.

Sai Witt carried the scoring load with 21 points, but he also had nine turnovers. Tate McCubbin had 11 points. Leading scorer LJ Thomas was a game-time decision but missed his second straight contest.

Ohio saw the return of Shareef Mitchell, who scored two points and had two rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench.

The Bobcats can enter Mid-American Conference play with a .500 record with a win against Muskingum at 7 p.m. Dec. 30 at The Convo.