After winning two overtime victories, the Green Wave (10-17, 3-11 American Athletic Conference) simply couldn’t power through to another victory. The Wave’s strong start failed to ignite a rally as Tulane fell to Houston 82-69 Wednesday night in Devlin Fieldhouse.

“Credit Houston,” head coach Ed Conroy said. “They’re as good a mid-range shooting basketball team as you’ll ever see.”

Tulane started off strong and kept it close throughout, down only by four points in the second half. However, the fatigue of four overtimes in the Wave’s last two games started to show as Houston (19-7, 9-5 AAC) began to pull ahead, and Tulane was unable to stop its offensive efforts. The Wave was outscored by the Cougars 43-34 in the second half, which began with a 6-0 Houston run in the first two minutes.

Senior guard Louis Dabney, sophomore forward Dylan Osetkowski, and redshirt junior guard Malik Morgan led the offensive attack with 23, 19, and 18 points respectively, combining for 60 of Wave’s 69 points.

Osetkowski notched his tenth double-double of the season and his third in a row, racking up 19 points and 12 rebounds against the Cougars. Osetkowski also recorded three steals on the night.

“[Dabney, Osetkowski, Morgan] all showed up for us today,” Conroy said. “We played very hard. It’s a shame.”

Overall, Tulane shot 35.6 percent on field goal attempts and 33.3 percent on three-point attempts. With only four games remaining in the regular season, the Wave looks forward to these final challenges.

“I think we’re really anxious,” Morgan said. “[But] we’re looking forward to the next couple of days.”

Tulane finishes its home stretch after a week’s rest, taking on East Carolina at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 in Devlin Fieldhouse.