ATHENS, Ohio ? The Ohio men?s basketball team saw its 11-game home winning streak snapped Wednesday night as Akron defeated the Bobcats 69-49 in Mid-American Conference action in the Convocation Center.

The Zips (15-7, 9-5 MAC) hopped out to a 14-0 start to begin the contest and the Bobcats (13-9, 8-6 MAC) would never recover. The loss marked Ohio?s worst of the season and its first in The Convo since Feb. 29, 2004.

?Every now and then as a team, even as a good team, you have one of those nights when you get off to one of those horrendous starts,? said Ohio head coach Tim O?Shea. ?We just couldn?t buy a basket for an awful long time. Typically at home, you?ll get that eight-point run or 10-point run but it just never came.?

Junior guard Mychal Green (Columbus) and sophomore forward Sonny Troutman (Indianapolis) shared the scoring load for Ohio, each chipping in a dozen. Troutman scored all 12 of his points in the second frame while Green, battling a bad back, added eight in the second half.

Ohio?s offense was slow to get going from the start and never really found a groove. The Bobcats began the contest 0-10 from the floor and didn?t hit their first field goal until the 13:40 mark in the first half.

?I think when we started to miss all those shots, we lost some energy,? O?Shea said.

Zip guard Bubba Walther connected on four three-point attempts in the first half, leading his team to a 39-15 lead at the break.

Ohio?s 15 first-half points were a season low and the 24-point deficit was a season high.

The Bobcats did bounce back in the second period but the lead was too much to overcome. Ohio outscored Akron 34-30 in the final 20 minutes of play.

Akron started the half with a 12-6 run and saw its lead swell to 30 at three different times. In the final 4:38, however, Ohio outscored Akron 14-4, cutting the advantage to 20, which stood through the final gun.

Senior forward Terren Harbut (Lexington, Ky.) narrowly missed a double-double, posting nine points and grabbing nine boards. Freshman forward Leon Williams (Baltimore) kicked in eight points and six boards.

Walther led four Akron players in double figures with 14 points. Rick McFadden kicked in 12 while Romeo Travis and Darryl Peterson each added 11.

?People have to remember this is a very young team,? O?Shea said. ?You do have some nights like this with a young team but you just have hang in there. There?s going to be better nights ahead."

Ohio will look to right the ship when it steps out of conference play for a meeting with Detroit on Bracket Buster Saturday. The Titans and Bobcats will meet at Calihan Hall in Detroit at 4:05 p.m.