TULSA, Okla. – Ohio State's NCAA run came to an end on Sunday night as the No. 11 seed Buckeyes ran into a potential Final Four caliber team as the Houston Cougars kept Kaleb Wesson in check and Corey Davis, Jr. was too much for the Ohio State defense in a 74-59 win. The Buckeyes knew that they needed to play a game in the 60s and the Cougars were able to impose their will and run a game much more to their liking in terms of pacing.

C.J. Jackson would score 18 for the Buckeyes to lead the team while Kaleb Wesson was held to 15 points, with only two of those occurring from two-point range. Keyshawn Woods would have 10 points in his final collegiate game.

"Obviously, it's disappointing," Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said. "We've had three -- we have three unbelievable seniors. That's the hard of the thing. You have three tremendous people who have all been here in varying fashions. CJ three years, Joey Lane four years and Keyshawn Woods a year, and they have left a major imprint on this program."

The Buckeyes played the Cougars close for much of the game but once the Buckeyes got down in the second half, they could never get back over that hump to tighten things up. It also did not help that the Buckeyes fell victim to a run of more than eight minutes without a field goal.

With all of that being considered, the Buckeyes kept it close for most of the game before there just was nothing left in the tank and tired legs gave out as the Buckeyes left it all on the court.

Houston sold out to keep Kaleb Wesson from beating them by doubling Wesson down low and that forced the Buckeyes to take to the outside. It worked in the first half as the Buckeyes were 8-17 from distance. It did not work in the second half when Ohio State went 2-12 from beyond the arc and things started to fall apart.

Turnovers were a factor as Ohio State had 14 in the game but that was only one of multiple factors that led to the ultimate demise of the Buckeyes in this game, starting first with the fact that Houston proved to be as difficult of an opponent as the Buckeyes have faced all season long. When it was not Davis. Jr. scoring from outside as part of his 21 points, it was Galen Robinson driving to the basket or Fabian White scoring inside.

There was a good amount of back-and-forth in the first half of the game even after the Buckeyes got off to a typical bad start with three turnovers on its first three possessions. Keyshawn Woods would get the Buckeyes on the board finally with a three-pointer.

Houston made a decision early in the game to keep Kaleb Wesson out of the offensive side of things by doubling down on him. That forced the Buckeyes to look to the outside shoot. Houston held a 20-2 edge in the first half with points in the paint. Ohio State shot a blistering 47-percent from beyond the arc but with that only attempted seven two-pointers.

Ohio State would take its first lead at 21-19 off of an Andre Wesson three-pointer. Ohio State would not be able to expand the lead beyond three points however and the Cougars would regain the lead on a Fabian White drive.

Houston would lead by as many as nine points in the first half as the Buckeyes ended the half on a 1-7 stretch from the floor.

Tempers would flare after the halftime buzzer sounded as Keyshawn Woods and DeJon Jarreau would each be assessed technical fouls after the teams took to the halftime locker room after words were exchanged.

The second half would get off to a sloppy start but the Buckeyes would get it down to four points after a Keyshawn Woods dunk but the Cougars would jump on the Buckeyes with a quick run to expand the lead up to nine points after a Robinson drive to the bucket.

Ohio State would get into the double bonus by the midway mark of the half but could not find their shot as the team shot 32-percent on the half and only made a grand total of eight field goals.

The Buckeyes would never get any closer than seven points by the eight-minute mark of the game and any closer than nine with less than two minutes to go.

Holtmann's Buckeyes knew that their best chance of winning would be keeping this game in the 60s and the Buckeyes accomplished that until the final minute of the game when the team just had to foul the Cougars for any shot of cutting into the lead.

That never happened.

This marks the end of the careers of Woods, Jackson and Joey Lane, who was inserted into the lineup late in the game once things were out of hand.

"It hurts, it is over," Woods said. "I wouldn't even say more so about my college career being over but just not playing with these guys, it just hurts."

"I am just proud of how far we came in such a short time," Jackson said. "We have a really young team and I am excited to see what the can do."

The Buckeyes proved a lot of doubters wrong by even getting to the NCAA Tournament, let alone winning a game. This senior class may not have the star power of some of the previous classes did, but anyone who follows the Buckeyes closely will remember this group of players as the ones that put in work and overachieved in what has to be considered a difficult season for the Buckeyes.

"It is tough when you feel really good about three guys that have all spent varying time here wearing a Buckeye uniform but who absolutely gave us everything, and I think were instrumental in keeping this team that probably faced as much adversity that I have ever experienced as a head coach, they kept it moving," Holtmann said.