ASHEVILLE, N.C. - After the postgame news conference ended Saturday night, Makinde London waited for his teammate, Makale Foreman.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga sophomore guard's head was down, his mind in part dealing with the Mocs' 77-59 season-ending loss to East Tennessee State in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference tournament, but Foreman was far more consumed with the effects of losing his best friend Thursday night.
"I just went out there and played for him," Foreman said, in that moment unable to fight back tears. "We tried to do the best we could, but we just couldn't get out on top tonight."
Added coach Lamont Paris of Foreman: "He did a great job of that. It was obvious (that Foreman was hurting) and it took a lot of courage. He was playing while dealing with a lot of adversity, and that's not an easy position to be in."
So afterward the 6-foot-11 London waited on Foreman, who was walking slowly. He put his arm around him and the two walked back to the locker room together, with Foreman stopping briefly to thank a fan who congratulated him on his performance.
Then, as London split and headed to the locker room, Foreman sought out his family, where he put his head down and cried some more.
The season - one with all sorts of adversity - didn't end anywhere near the way the Mocs wanted it to, as Saturday's loss included Foreman and fellow sophomore guard Rodney Chatman sitting out for long stretches. Chatman reinjured his left ankle on a first-half drive, and Foreman went out once with a hurt shoulder and again with a leg injury.
UTC was able to overcome it all a night earlier, upsetting seventh-seeded Samford 89-79 by finishing the game on an 8-0 run. But this time the opponent was East Tennessee State, the No. 2 seed.
Still, the Mocs battled, much as they had done all season. They led 30-29 late in the first half after a Foreman jump shot, but the Buccaneers (24-7) finished the half on a 9-1 run, then followed with a 12-1 spurt to start the second half. The Mocs cut the lead to 54-45 after a 3-pointer by Foreman followed with a trio of free throws after getting fouled, but the veteran Bucs kept getting into the lane for easy baskets, stretching the lead to as many as 19 points before the final buzzer.
"They've got a good team," Paris said. "They attack the rim, got the ball in the paint. They had shots around the basket early and often and got in transition a lot of times due to things we did.
"We just didn't do a good job of keeping them out of the paint."
London and Foreman each scored 13 points to lead the Mocs, who finished 10-23 in Paris's first season. London added five rebounds before fouling out, while Foreman had four rebounds.
Chatman had nine points in only 17 minutes of action, visibly favoring his ankle. Nat Dixon and James Lewis had eight each, with Dixon leading the team in rebounds with six, while Joshua Phillips had five points and four rebounds in his final game.
The Bucs scored 62 points in the paint Saturday. They were led by Jalan McCloud's 22 points and five assists, with the graduate transfer hitting both of the Bucs' 3-pointers. SoCon player of the year Desonta Bradford had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Bo Hodges and Peter Jurkin had 12 points each.
"I thought the first four, five minutes of the second half set the tone," ETSU coach Steve Forbes said. "I thought we were really locked in and got in a groove defensively and took them out of what they want to do. They had a hard time scoring in the second half.
"We pounded the ball inside, and I'm real proud of our effort. We were gritty. I knew they'd come out and play well and in the first half they did, but I really thought we dominated the second half."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.