TULSA, Okla. -- Ohio State’s basketball season came to an end on Sunday with a 74-59 loss to Houston in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Despite a hot shooting start, the Buckeyes went cold in the second half and were unable to find ways to score. The few bright spots came from C.J. Jackson and Kaleb Wesson.

Jackson responded from a poor shooting night against Iowa State to score 18 points, including 4-of-11 from 3-point range. Wesson ended the night with 15 points.

Houston saw four of its five players reach double figures with Corey Davis Jr. leading the way with 21 points. Galen Robinson followed with 13 while points Fabian White Jr. scored 11 points and Armoni Brooks added 10.

With 8:17 to go in the first half, Ohio State led 25-23, sparked by eight made threes. Then Kaleb Wesson picked up his second foul, relegating him to the bench for a large portion of the half, allowing Houston to go on a 14-3 run. The Buckeyes made just one of their final seven shots to close out the half and never led again.

Much like in its loss to Michigan, Ohio State got into a heated altercation where words were exchanged between players at the end of the first half. No pushing or shoving happened, but the incident resulted in technical fouls for Keyshawn Woods and Houston’s DeJon Jarreau.

The second half turned into a back-and-forth affair with neither team able to put together a series of stops. Ohio State could never go on the run it desperately needed to swing momentum in its favor.

With 7:25 to play, Davis made a lay up off of a turnover from Woods to push Houston’s lead to 11 points, and the Cougars were never threatened. Houston kept Ohio State without a field goal for over eight minutes of the second half despite going into the bonus with 10:03 left to play.

The Buckeyes end their season with a 20-15 record and 8-12 in Big Ten play.

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