LOS ANGELES — Ohio State was so close to reaching its second consecutive Final Four last night against Wichita State, the players and coaches could taste it.
A 23-6 Buckeyes second-half run had melted what had grown to a 20-point Wichita State lead with 11 minutes remaining to just three points — one tantalizing possession — with 2:49 left.
But the Buckeyes, who rode an 11-game winning streak into the game, would get no closer, falling 70-66 to the Shockers in the West Region final at Staples Center.
"I told these guys, you get so close to going to your second straight Final Four and everybody remembers the last game,'' Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "I'm not going to. I'm going to remember this season, because I'm very, very proud of what these guys have accomplished this year.''
Ohio State (29-8) reached their fourth consecutive Sweet 16 and second Elite Eight in a row with terrific shooting — something that abandoned it last night.
The Buckeyes, who entered averaging 82 points in their previous three tournament games and were 23-of-46 from 3-point range, shot 31.1 percent overall and 5-of-25 from 3-point range.
Leading scorer Deshaun Thomas finished with 21 points, but had just nine on 4-of-13 shooting in the first half. He was 0-for-6 from 3-point range. Point guard Aaron Craft was stifled, scoring nine points on 2-of-12 shooting.
"The way we shot the ball coming into the Elite Eight and Sweet 16, man, everything was falling,'' Thomas said. "But nothing was falling.''
Craft credited Wichita State for doing "a phenomenal job'' on defense.
"They got a shot-blocker down there [Carl Hall] that blocked quite a few shots [six] in the first half, and that really kind of had us on our heels,'' Craft said. "We didn't score in transition at all, and that's been our calling card throughout this run, getting stops and scoring in transition.''
Matta said he was "just looking for somebody to put the ball in the bucket'' during the Buckeyes' extended scoring droughts. They went 0-for-7 to start the game.
"We had dug ourselves in such a hole,'' Matta said "We were compromising a lot of different things. They countered what we were doing. They went small, in essence, four or five guards at times. I mean, it was just trying to find somebody to make a shot."
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com
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