HOUSTON — Stanford gave it its all. But in the end, that wasn’t enough.

Texas’ 20-3 run late in the second half broke Stanford’s will and ended its season, 82-62, in Saturday’s Sweet 16 match-up at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

The Longhorns’ star trio of All-American point guard D.J. Augustin (23 points, 7 assists), forward Damion James (18 points) and shooting guard A.J. Abrams (12 points) scored 53, while Stanford’s starting backcourt managed just 7 points on 2-of-17 shooting. Sophomore center Brook Lopez kept Stanford (28-7) close with 26 points (10-of-22, 10 rebounds), but 299-pound Texas center Dexter Pittman helped hold Lopez scoreless in the last 13:55. They would be the sophomore’s last 14 minutes in a Cardinal uniform.

At every other position, the Longhorns (30-6) were quicker off the dribble, more accurate with their shot and more tenacious with their defense. So while Stanford’s backcourt — senior forward Fred Washington and junior guards Mitch Johnson and Anthony Goods — wished they had some of those open looks back, coach Trent Johnson knew that his team deserved to lose to the ‘Horns.

“As hard as it is for me to say, they are better,” he said postgame. “They are better.

“It would be easy for me to sit up here and say, well, we ran out of gas or didn’t do this or didn’t do that. We did what we’ve done all year long. We competed and came up short, because they were better at crucial times.”

While Stanford never led after 2-0, the team fought mightily to delay the inevitable. Johnson made consecutive threes, one right before the halftime horn and one just after. Texas’s edge was just 43-37, its smallest since a 23-18 lead with 6:19 to go in the first.

The Longhorns responded with two James free throws and an Augustin layup. But then Brook Lopez and sophomore reserve Landry Fields (11 points) got hot, scoring all of Stanford’s points during a 14-5 run.

Fields, spelling the cold Goods (0 points, 0-of-7 shooting), capped the spurt with a three from the top of the arc. It pulled Stanford within 52-51 with 12:54 to go.

But that was as close as Stanford would come as Texas switched to a man defense, began pressuring the ball more aggressively and checked Pittman in three minutes later. Blame fatigue, blame panic, or just credit Texas, but Stanford didn’t score from the field until a Fields jumper with 3:36 left.

“When [Pittman] started guarding me, I started throwing up poor percentage shots that I don’t normally make,” said Lopez, who missed all four of his shots during Texas’s run, the first on an eight-foot hook that would have given Stanford a 53-52 lead, but never hit the rim. “They just came out and I think they just wanted it more.”

Augustin, Abrams and James combined for 17 points over the 20-3 spurt, and Texas led 72-54, with just 3:44 separating them from the Elite Eight.

“I think we just ran out of gas, and they kept throwing bodies at us,” said senior forward Taj Finger (7 rebounds, 4 points). “They kept beating us up and just taking it to us.”

Both teams started off cold, with their depth perception perhaps affected by the dozens of feet behind either backboard in the arena. Texas led just 12-8 after nine minutes, with the teams a combined 0-of-8 deep.

Then Texas’ guards and Lopez started getting uncorked. In the face of a consistent Texas double team, Brook posted a 15-point, 10-rebound half, helping Stanford stay within 40-34 at halftime.

“It’s almost like what I remember as a kid growing up with the Green Bay Packers and that sweep they ran,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said of facing Brook Lopez. “You knew it was coming, but there is just not a whole lot you can do about it.”

Lopez needed to start strong, because Stanford’s first points outside the paint came on junior forward Lawrence Hill’s three — with 2:31 left in the first half.

The rest of the teams’ struggles on offense are all the more concerning for next year, given that Brook Lopez is a likely top-five pick in the NBA Draft.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this is probably his last game in a Stanford uniform,” coach Johnson said postgame.

Both players declined to discuss their plans for next year after the game.

The Cardinal, picked fifth in the Pac-10 and No. 23 nationally preseason, exceeded expectations with its highest win total and first Sweet 16 berth of the Trent Johnson era. So while there was anger after the Texas loss, there was also a sense of pride.

“When they take a long step back and take a look at this, they will feel good about what they accomplished,” coach Johnson said.

“Yes, we had goals to be Pac-10 Champions during the season; yes, we had a goal to be conference champions; and yes they had a goal to get to the Final Four. And the thing about it is they believed and worked their tails off to put themselves in a position where they just came up just a step short in all three of them.”

For seniors Washington, junior guard Kenny Brown and senior center Peter Prowitt, the game was likely their last in not just a Stanford jersey, but any uniform at all.

Finger, the one senior with a realistic shot and desire to play overseas next year, was just as proud of his last year at Stanford.

“We didn’t play in the past three years to Stanford, to what people expected Stanford to be,” he said of the three-year spurt with no wins in the NCAA Tournament. “This year, we had a great season: second in the Pac-10, making it to the Sweet 16. I definitely think that we left our mark.”