WICHITA, Kan. - SIUE men's basketball completed its historic 2024-25 season Thursday with a 78-40 loss to No. 1 seeded Houston in the first round of the NCAA Division I Championships.

SIUE, the Ohio Valley Conference Champions for the first time in school history, finished with a 22-12 record. Its 22 wins, the most since joining the Division I level in 2008.

Houston improved to 31-4 and will advance to the second round, where it will face the winner of the Georgia/Gonzaga game.

SIUE's first-ever foray into the Division I Basketball Championship at INTRUST Bank Arena started well enough with two dunks in the first two minutes of play by Kyle Thomas and Brian Taylor II.

Houston then went on a 22-4 run and never looked back.

Houston led 52-24 at the break before both teams clamped down, defensively, in the second half.

After shooting 62 percent (19-31) in the first half, SIUE held Houston to just 23 percent (8-35) in the second half.

For its part, the Houston defense held SIUE without a field goal for a 10+ minute stretch in the second half.

SIUE shot 15 of 49 overall (30.6 percent) and made just two three-pointers in the contest.

Ray'Sean Taylor, a member of the Great Lakes Region All-District team, and Brian Taylor II led SIUE with 10 points each.

Ray'Sean Taylor finished his career as the program's leading scorer with 1,962 points.

Desmond Polk and Myles Thompson each scored five points. Polk finished his career No. 2 on the program's list of games played, appearing in 144 in his SIUE career.

The Houston offense managed 33 points off the bench. Milos Uzan led four Houston players in double figures with 16 points.

Houston finished 27 of 66 shooting (40.9 percent) while draining 10 three-pointers.

SIUE also was outmatched on the boards, outrebounded by Houston 50-27. Houston scored 15 second-chance points compared to two for SIUE. SIUE matched Houston with both teams scoring 24 point in the paint