Kyle Young led the Buckeyes with 14 points and 13 rebounds while Kaleb Wesson scored eight points and grabbed 11 boards.
Freshman point guard D.J. Carton came off the bench to score nine points and grab five rebounds for the Buckeyes, and he had a pair of baskets in a key stretch in the second half.
Wilmington grad Jarron Cumberland and Keith Williams led Cincinnati with 13 points apiece for the Bearcats.
The Buckeyes opened the second half with a 13-3 run to take a 33-29 lead on Wesson’s 3-pointer with 13:17 to go.
Ohio State later led by as many as nine, but Cumberland kept the Bearcats in it with six points in the last six minutes.
Cincinnati led 26-19 after a ragged first half.
Young scored 10 of Ohio State’s points and went 5 for 6 from the floor while the rest of the Buckeyes were 4 for 23.
He also had eight rebounds, including six on the offensive end to keep possessions alive, something desperately needed as the Buckeyes struggled to generate good shots or make any kind of shots.
Cincinnati carved out a seven-point lead despite shooting even worse from the floor (10 for 34, or 29 percent).
The Bearcats made 3 of 12 shots from 3-point range while Ohio State was 1-for-9.
UC also took advantage of its free throws, at least compared to the hosts, going 3 for 8 from the charity stripe while Ohio State was 0 for 5.
The Buckeyes were in the bonus for the last 12 minutes but failed to capitalize at all.
Cumberland had seven points in the first half for UC while Williams also had seven.
Ohio State also beat Cincinnati 64-56 in the first game of the 2018-19 season.
That was the first game played between the teams on either campus since 1921 when the Bearcats won 33-17 in Columbus.
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