By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Bulls' fantastic season of basketball fell one game short of the Sweet 16.

USF's late rally came up a few shots shy of completion in a 62-56 loss to Ohio in Sunday's third round of the NCAA Tournament at Bridgestone Arena.

What a memorable run it was, however, for a USF team (22-14) that won 10 games last season and used that motivation to secure the program's first two NCAA tournament victories in its first trip back to the dance since 1992.

Victor Rudd Jr. and Anthony Collins led three Bulls in double figures with 13 points apiece, but the usually air-tight USF defense failed to stop Ohio's Walter Offutt, who posted a game-high 21 points with many coming during the Bobcats' game-deciding run midway through the second half.

USF's offense ran out of steam late, but got off to an outstanding start against Ohio's defense that's top 10 in the nation in a number of categories.

After managing only three first-half field goals Friday against Temple, USF went into the break with a 27-21 lead while the Bobcats became the 31st Bulls opponent to score 30 or fewer points in the opening period this season.

A pleasant surprise for Bulls fans was USF's ability make buckets up in a hurry. Senior Augustus Gilchrist outscored the Bobcats, 6-5, to begin the game and the Bulls wound up going 11-for-27 from the field (40 percent). Gilchrist had a team-high eight points at the half and finished with 12 in his final game as a Bull.

The Bobcats had a 12-6 advantage but it was very short-lived thanks to a 10-run by the Bulls with four points coming from Rudd Jr. Ohio went 7 minutes, 56 seconds until its next basket.

Offutt's layup cut USF's lead to 19-18 with 4:20 to go, but the Bulls fired back with an 8-0 run to close out the half.

Offutt and star guard D.J. Cooper had eight points apiece for Ohio but the rest of the Bobcats went 1-for-12 from the field.

Offutt had the hot hand after the break with eight points in less than 5 minutes including his second 3-pointer of the period that tied the game at 31.

Offense slowed down a ton for both teams until the dramatics started to set in.

Jawanza Poland's alley-oop dunk with 9:26 remaining gave USF a 42-37 lead and what looked like a great amount of momentum, until he was whistled for hanging on the rim. A technical foul was called that resulted a 6-0 run that gave Ohio a 43-42 lead on a free throw by Nick Kellogg.

Gilchrist went back to being aggressive in the paint, got fouled by a trio of defenders and sank two free throws to put the Bulls back ahead, 44-43, with 8:26 to go.

The see-saw battle tipped the other way about a minute and a half later when Offutt connected from long range again to give the Bobcats a 47-46 lead. The momentum was officially on the Bobcats' side when Kellogg was alone beyond the 3-point arc and knocked one down to put Ohio ahead by four with less than 6 minutes to go.

USF's deficit reached six points after Offutt attacked the paint with a layup at the 5-minute mark that marked a 15-4 run by the Bobcats since Poland's technical foul.

The Bulls' largest deficit reached eight points when Ivo Baltic's jumper was good with 2:35 to play. Collins, dangerous all year inside the paint, got a layup and foul shot to go in 25 seconds later for USF, but Cooper's jumper with 1:33 left put the Bulls down, 58-51.

Gilchrist's layup cut the Bulls deficit to five 19 seconds later and USF was forced to play the foul game the rest of the way. Ohio's Reggie Kelly sank a free throw with 1:06 to go before Fitzpatrick, USF's most dependable 3-point threat, connected to make it 59-56 with 50 ticks on the clock remaining.

USF was forced to foul with 36 remaining and Cooper nailed both free throws to just about end the Bulls' memorable run through the school history books.

The Bulls have never been deeper into the NCAA Tournament and set new program records for wins (22) and Big East regular-season victories (12) that paved the way for a new standard of USF basketball.