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, seconds after missing what would’ve been a game-winning 3-pointer.

He basked in a warm applause and waved goodbye to Buckeye fans. But as he walked toward the locker room, Battle wasn’t visibly emotional like many of his teammates were.

Instead, Battle smiled.

“How can I be mad at one single moment?” Battle, a five-year college basketball veteran, said. “That it comes to and end? Yes, there’s always gonna be an end to something. But I think back to what I did in my college career and the growth that I had.”

The Buckeyes’ season ended after falling 79-77 against Georgia Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament at Value City Arena.

Battle scored a game-high 22 points for the Buckeyes in his last college game and led Ohio State through a 40-minute, neck-and-neck dog fight.

“I’m proud of the way we responded to multiple lead changes and the fight that we showed,” head coach Jake Diebler said. “The energy in the building from our crowd that helped us rally to take a lead, it just felt like we ran out of gas there a little bit in a stretch when we were able to push it up.”

Ohio State turned defense into offense early and went on a 7-0 run, tying the game at 15 midway through the first half.

With just a few seconds left in the first, the Buckeyes looked like they would have the lead heading into the break, but Bulldog freshman guard Silas Demary Jr. had other ideas. He missed a jumper from inside the paint, grabbed his own rebound and put the ball back up, giving Georgia a 36-35 lead into intermission.

Three 3-pointers and a put-back dunk propelled the Bulldogs to a 13-2 run to open the second half, putting Georgia ahead 51-39 with 15 minutes left in the game.

When it looked as if the Bulldogs were going to pull away, the Buckeyes responded.

A no-look pass from sophomore guard Bruce Thornton paved the way for a two-handed slam by senior forward Zed Key, which capped an 8-0 Ohio State run, cutting the Georgia lead to just four with 13 minutes to go.

The Bulldogs kept pushing the pace, and with Ohio State clawing to keep the momentum, Georgia scored the game’s next nine points to push its lead back up to 13.

But those nine points were quickly overshadowed.

The Buckeyes erupted for a 17-0 run over the next four minutes, consisting of eight points from Battle, four from Thornton and five more from fifth-year guard Dale Bonner. And suddenly, Ohio State had a 70-64 lead with just under five minutes to play.

Down by one with 39 seconds left, Georgia senior guard Noah Thomasson connected on a heavily contested jumper to put the Bulldogs up one.

Battle missed a 3-pointer from the corner, and with time running out, Ohio State fouled Bulldogs freshman guard Blue Cain, who calmly made two free throws with 25 seconds left, giving Georgia a 79-76 lead.

Thornton, who was at the free throw line with two shots and down by three, made the first but missed the second. On the Bulldogs’ inbound, with 17 seconds left, Bonner stole the ball away from Georgia, leading to an Ohio State timeout.

One last chance.

Battle rose up for a contested, fade-away 3-pointer from the left wing.

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

The shot bounced off he front rim as the buzzer sounded.

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

After a roller-coaster season that saw significant change, Diebler said this is a team he’ll never forget, and he’s focused on caring for his players before anything else.

“I thought the character of our guys, both individually and the collective character of this team was revealed in such a big way from mid-February on,” Diebler said. “What we were able to do as a program during a time with just a great deal of adversity and different emotions, our guys are hopefully remembered for that, how they handled the adversity and how they finished the season.”