AKRON, Ohio ? Despite a double-double by sophomore forward Jeff Halbert, the Ohio men?s basketball team dropped an 84-76 Mid-American Conference decision at Akron on Tuesday.

Jaivon Harris, a senior guard from Alliance and last week?s MAC East Player of the Week, led the Bobcats with 22 points, followed by Thomas Stephens with 15, Terren Harbut with 12, Halbert with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds and Sonny Troutman with eight points and seven assists.

Derrick Tarver, one of the nation?s leading scorers, scored 27 points while Rick McFadden added 19 for the Zips (8-6, 2-4 MAC).

Ohio (5-11, 2-4 MAC) led by eight points twice in the first half and was up 21-14 on a Harris three-pointer with 10:54 remaining before Akron responded with a 20-0 run to take a 34-21 advantage at the 6:18 mark.

With a pair of layups by Harris to close out the half, the Bobcats closed the gap to four, 42-38, at the break.

A steal by Harris and the resulting Stephens layup tied the score at 48-48 with 14:37 left in the second period but the Zips used a 13-3 run to regain a 10-point lead, 61-51, with 9:31 remaining.

Akron?s second-half lead went as high as 14 before the Bobcats clawed back to a five-point deficit, 76-71, on a Troutman layup with 1:41 left to play. Ohio fouls and Akron free throws down the stretch, however, led to the eight-point final difference.

For the game, the Zips shot 27-of-53 (51 percent) from the field, including 9-of-18 from three-point range.

?I thought Akron shot the ball very, very well,? said Bobcat head coach Tim O?Shea. ?They also had a major contribution off the bench from two guys who hadn?t really scored for them. McFadden and (Mario) Collins came in and made some big shots.?

Ohio shot 29-of-63 (46 percent) but made only 9-of-29 from behind the arc and 9-of-15 from the charity stripe.

The Bobcats will next travel to Huntington, W.Va., on Saturday for a 7 p.m. contest against Marshall that will be televised by the Thundering Herd Network.

?Hopefully, come Saturday against Marshall, we?ll get a little better defensive effort and can go into Huntington and get a win,? said O?Shea. ?It?s a tough place to play.?