Graduate forward Jamison Battle (10) rises up for a slam dunk between three Georgia defenders. Ohio State was knocked out of the NIT Tournament after losing 79-77 to the Bulldogs in the quarterfinals Tuesday. Credit: Nick Molica | LTV Sports Producer

Jamison Battle circled the arena as he waved goodbye to Buckeye fans one final time. 

After missing the game-winning shot, Battle basked in the warm applause of a jam-packed Buckeye crowd in the Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center. Instead of beating himself for the miss, Battle smiled.

“How can I be mad at one single moment?” Battle, a five-year college basketball veteran, said.

The Buckeye men’s basketball team’s season came to a close after (22-13, 9-11 Big Ten) falling 79-77 against Georgia (19-16, 6-12 SEC) Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament on its home court. 

Ohio State was led by Battle, who scored 22 points for the Buckeyes in his last college basketball game. Ohio State went neck and neck for all 40 minutes in a game that featured run after run.

“Basketball is a game of runs,” Battle said. “That’s how it is and [it was] honestly a fun game for us.”

The ballgame opened up with high intensity as Ohio State fifth-year guard Dale Bonner hit the deck followed by sophomore guard Bruce Thornton, while diving for a loose ball. 

Freshman forward Devin Royal cut the Buckeye lead to 15-11, converting a 3-point play after being fouled on a layup with 12:10 to go in the first half.

Ohio State then began turning defense into offense as freshman guard Taison Chatman hit a jumper from the left corner, tying the game at 15 apiece midway through the first half, capping a 7-0 run for the Buckeyes.

Several Buckeyes joined in on the offensive party as Ohio State sophomore center Felix Okpara reeled in an alley-oop pass from a driving Gayle.

Ohio State led 27-23 with just over five minutes left in the half.

However, with just a few seconds left, Bulldogs freshman guard Silas Demary Jr. missed a jumper from the paint, grabbed his own rebound and put the ball back up, giving Georgia a 36-35 lead into intermission. Despite trailing at the half, Okpara led the game in scoring with 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting.

Out of the break, Georgia graduate guard Noah Thomasson got the scoring started with a layup, extending the Bulldogs’ lead to three. Okpara would match the 2 points with a hook shot.

The Bulldogs went on a scoring run, which opened and closed with freshman guard Blue Cain.

A 3-pointer by Cain, a putback dunk from freshman forward Dylan James over two Buckeye defenders and two more Bulldog threes put Georgia ahead 51-39 with 15:50 left in the game. 

Despite a 13-2 run to open the second frame, the Buckeyes responded in a big way.

Senior forward Zed Key ended the Buckeyes’ scoring drought as he reeled in an offensive rebound and laid it back up while drawing a foul

Royal swatted Georgia’s junior guard RJ Melendez and Battle splashed home a 3-pointer from the right wing on the other end. After Demary failed to convert a layup, Thornton dished a no-look pass to Key down low, who slammed it home with two hands, giving the Buckeyes an 8-0 run and cut their deficit to a mere 51-47 with 13:47 left in the contest.

Georgia junior forward Jalen DeLoach stopped the Ohio State run by delivering an and-1 to silence the Buckeye crowd. The next minute was all Georgia, as the Bulldogs went on a 9-0 run to steal the momentum and push their lead back up to 60-47.

Little did the Buckeyes know a made layup by Thornton would be the start of something massive. 

Ohio State scored the game’s next 17 points over the next 4:22, which consisted of 8 points from Battle, four from Thornton and five more from Bonner. Suddenly, Ohio State had a 70-64 lead with just under five minutes to play.

However, Georgia wasn’t done.

The Buckeyes were leading by one with 36 seconds to play before Georgia’s Thomasson connected on a heavily contested jumper by Royal, putting the Bulldogs ahead 77-67.

Battle missed a 3-pointer from the corner and with time running out, Ohio State fouled Cain, who calmly made two free throws with 25 seconds left, giving Georgia a 79-76 lead. Thornton was fouled on the next possession, however, he was only able to split the pair from the charity stripe.

Miraculously, Bonner then stole the ball away from Georgia with 10 seconds to go but in the end, a fading, left-wing 3-pointer from Battle rimmed out. Battle said every shot he takes, he feels it’s going in, and this one was no different.

“Off the hands, I felt like it was good,” Battle said.

Head coach Jake Diebler talked about the decision to put the ball in his hands on the final possession. 

“I thought he earned it,” Diebler said. “I think his size in that moment, I valued his size to be able to get a shot off.”

Afterward, Diebler addressed the team in the locker room for the final time this season.

“I told our guys this is a team I’ll never forget,” Diebler said.