For every team, losses at this stage of the season are always excruciatingly hard. The term "one and done" is so unforgiving, and it's a term that is applicable in every round once the big tourney starts.
It was even more unforgiving in both GNAC cases, though. Western Oregon owned the GNAC regular season, winning a competitive conference by a full two games. A late-season slide (the Wolves lost three of their last five games entering the NCAA postseason) had them on the postseason bubble, but their body of work over a 29-game regular season was enough to edge out rivals from the PacWest and CCAA and nail down the last at-large berth.
As the eight-seed, WOU drew the top-rated team in the region, No. 1-seeded Azusa Pacific, which also had the benefit of hosting the tournament. The Wolves gave Azusa all it could handle (WOU jumped out to an 11-0 lead and the game was tied at 34 at intermission) before the Cougars went on a game-clinching run midway through the second half. Still, the Wolves made it close at the end, but the deficit was too large to overcome.
Have to give credit to fourth-year head coach Brady Bergeson, who has turned around a program that had never advanced to the NCAA postseason prior to this year. You'll see for yourself in the press conference video, which also included junior post Andy Avgi and junior guard Julian Nichols.
Less than 24 hours later, it was Seattle Pacific's turn, in the most difficult of circumstances. What looked like a sure win in the regional semifinals (SPU had upset No. 2 seed BYU-Hawaii on Friday) turned into a buzzer-beating loss when third-seeded Cal Baptist scored on a putback (after an airball, no less) to turn a 77-76 deficit into a 78-77 victory. Listen to head coach Ryan Looney and seniors Riley Stockton and Matt Borton. As hard as it is for anyone to face questions so soon after a loss of this kind, the trio handled everything with class.
