ATHENS – AJ Clayton returned to the lineup, knocked down four 3-pointers and scored 18 points as Ohio routed Western Michigan 94-69 on Tuesday night at The Convo.

AJ Brown added 17 points, Shareef Mitchell scored 13 points, and Elijah Elliott and Ajay Sheldon had 11 points each for the Bobcats (12-10, 6-4 Mid-American Conference).

Western Michigan (7-15, 4-6 MAC) scored the game’s first five points, but Ohio answered with the next 12 and never trailed again. The Broncos trailed just 18-15 with 9:34 left in the first half; the Bobcats followed with an 18-3 run to go up 36-18 at the 4:39 mark. Ohio led 48-24 at halftime.

The Broncos scored the first eight points of the second half, but that was as close as they got. A 12-2 run in the middle of the half gave the Bobcats a 70-41 lead, and they eventually increased their advantage to 36 points at 85-49 with 5:12 left.

Ohio shot 60.0% from the field and found its range, going 13 of 26 on 3-pointers. Clayton was 4-for-6, and Sheldon went 3-for-5. The Bobcats also made 15 of 17 free throws.

Jackson Paveletzke scored just seven points on 3-of-6 shooting but had nine rebounds and eight assists.

Chansey Willis Jr. paced Western Michigan with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. Markhi Strickland added 12 points. The Broncos shot just 39.1% and were 3 of 18 on 3-pointers.

Ohio steps away from MAC play for the weekend for the second round of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge with a game against Appalachian State at 2 p.m. Saturday at The Convo.