EVANSVILLE, Ind. – After a historic season in which the University of North Georgia men's basketball team soared to heights that had previously never been reached, it has come to an end with a 90-76 loss at the hands of fourth-seeded West Texas A&M in the Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind. 

Upon arriving at the team hotel after the game, head coach Dan Evans was welcomed to a large contingent of Nighthawk fans and parents who were hanging around in the lobby with the team. He went through and hugged every parent and shared a word with each of them.

He shared many emotions publicly in Tuesday's post-game press conference, but the most common sentiment was pride.

"We've never asked [our players] to be perfect just like we don't expect ourselves to be, but we do expect them to work every day and they've been nothing short of tremendous in that way," said Evans.

He has built a program upon family values, and a family that spends a basketball season together until Mar. 26 builds bonds that will never be broken. 

"The friendships they have in that locker room last forever. The degree they will have from our university lasts forever. The literal education they pursue lasts them forever. Getting beat in the Elite Eight doesn't change that. It doesn't change that."

28 wins, a Peach Belt Tournament Championship, an NCAA Southeast Regional Championship, two PBC All-Conference selections, two Southeast Regional All-Tournament selections, the Southeast Regional Most Outstanding Player, two NABC All-District First Team selections, an NABC All-American and so much more was accomplished by this year's team. And yet, one of the things they'll most be proud of is the way they fought in their final game. 

Things went south from the very beginning in Tuesday's loss to the Buffaloes. WT opened the game with a 21-4 lead in the first seven minutes. 

The Buffs knocked down a flurry of three pointers, four of which came from senior guard Zach Toussaint. He ended the first half with 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting while going 4-of-5 from downtown. 

After the slow start, UNG began its comeback ascent, slowly building back on the scoreboard as the first half came to a close. 

When the half ended, the Nighthawks had cut the deficit to 12 points and headed into the locker room trailing 44-32.

Junior forward Frank Champion and sophomore point guard AJ White had combined for just eight points on 3-of-10 shooting in the first twenty minutes. Champion played less than nine minutes in the opening stanza due to early foul trouble after getting called for a pair of fouls in the first three minutes. 

With the odds stacked against them, the locker room conversation worked wonders as UNG came out for the second half. 

The Nighthawks outscored WT 15-6 in the first few minutes, cutting the deficit to just three points at the 15:39 mark. 

After the under sixteen-minute media timeout, UNG exploded for a 10-0 run that was capped off by White's second made three of the half to take its first lead of the game at 57-55 with 11:37 to play. After trailing by as many as 17 points, the comeback was complete.

UNG would not have been able to fight back in the game if it wasn't for the effort of White. After a rough start in the first half saw the sophomore go just 1-for-6 from the floor and 0-for-5 from downtown, he turned things around in the final 20 minutes.

He had 12 second-half points while shooting 5-for-10 from the floor and contributing three assists in the comeback efforts.

"Honestly, it's kind of like we've done all year. We got off to a very bad start but it's the game of basketball and it's a game of runs," said Champion after the loss. "To be this far, you can't just put your head down and go into the locker room thinking it's over."

Champion's final game of the season saw a valiant effort from the 6-foot-7 forward lead to 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. Champion used his size to earn multiple open looks down low in the second half. As he's done so many times in his four-year career, he willed his team back in the game and would not go down without a fight.

From there, the two teams traded buckets until the 7:37 mark when they were tied at 65-65. Then the Buffs went on a 12-4 run to hold an eight-point advantage with five minutes remaining. 

With 4:10 to go in the game, senior guard Hunter Shedenhelm drilled his second three of the game to make it 77-72 in favor of WT. 

Shedenhelm finished the game with 10 points and three rebounds while knocking down a pair of much needed threes for the Nighthawks.

"We trust [coach Evans] with everything in the world," Shedenhelm said post-game. "We know we deserve to be here and we're not just going to lay over and that's why we just have faith in each other." 

However, the Buffs were relentless in their offensive efforts, quickly growing the lead back to double digits with 3:14 left. From there, WT held on until the final buzzer for the 90-76 win. 

Toussaint finished with 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting from downtown while senior guard and NABC All-American Larry Wise led the way for the Buffs with 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. 

As a team, WT shot 49.2 percent (29-of-59) from the floor and 36.1 percent (13-of-36) from downtown. 

What UNG did this season won't ever be forgotten. How they battled on Tuesday won't be forgotten either. What will be remembered is the staff and the players that fought through adversity time and again to do something that has never been done before. 

"In all honesty it's been a really challenging year on a lot of fronts. I don't know what I learned about our program other than I was reminded of how resilient people can be," Evans shared after the game. 

"When you love other individuals and you're willing to forgive mistakes and accept that people have weaknesses… really good things are possible." 

The people on this team will be remembered for their dedication and commitment to doing things the right way and for setting the standard of what Nighthawk basketball can be. And, hopefully, they'll be remembered as the team that started a tradition of success. 

"While today includes some pain and includes some disappointment and probably some regret that you've got to live with in this sport, it doesn't take away from what we've done, what we've accomplished and what we're building," said Evans.

For today, they'll be remembered as the team that made the Nighthawk faithful proud.