PORTLAND, Ore.- The locker room following Western’s loss to Gonzaga was exactly what one would expect after the Toppers last-second, 83-81 loss to Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament second round: quiet, distraught, solemn.

Outside the locker room, however, was a slightly different scene. Senior guard Orlando Mendez-Valdez, junior guard A.J. Slaughter and sophomore Steffphon Pettigrew came back from the post-game press conference, wearing slight grins, grins from the satisfaction of a complete effort.

“We got this far playing against a team that everyone had favored to beat us,” senior guard Orlando Mendez-Valdez said. “The pressure was on them. And we wanted to have fun and be honest, and that’s what we did, we went out there and had fun and competed at the same time. Unfortunately, they had the last chance to score. I honestly believe, if we had one more chance, we definitely would’ve won or tied the game.”

Not that the mood was at all upbeat, considering that Western experienced the other end of the spectrum from last season, after winning its first round game in last season’s NCAA tournament with a last-second shot, then losing in this season’s tournament in similar fashion.

“We have a lot of pride in what we left out on the floor,” Head Coach Ken McDonald said. “I’m not going to be coaching some of these guys anymore, they’re graduating. But an incredible ride, this year. A lot to learn from, a lot to build on and most important, a lot of great memories.”

Western was picked to finish third in the Sun Belt Conference East Division in the preseason, with only one player, Slaughter, picked to any preseason all-conference team. Slaughter finished the season as an all-Sun Belt second team selection with Mendez-Valdez picking up conference player of the year and first team all-conference honors and sophomore guard Sergio Kerusch being named an honorable mention.

“We were 10 seconds away from the Sweet Sixteen,” Kerusch said. “I mean, I’m disappointed right now, I’m kind of disappointed in myself, personally. It’s just, to be that close to achieving that goal and then to have it snatched away, it’s kind of heartbreaking.”

The heartbreak was evident. Sophomore forward D.J. Magley sat in front of his locker, face buried in his hands. Junior guard Anthony Sally, the only reserve to log double figure minutes in both tournament games, sat calling and texting family and friends with the bad news. Kerusch sat motionless for a number of minutes, blank stare covering his face, until finally changing out of his jersey, throwing it to the ground.

The feelings were partly a product of missed opportunities. The Toppers were 5-for-14 from the free throw line for the game. After holding a 37-35 halftime lead, Gonzaga’s 6-0 run to start the second half forced the Toppers to play from behind a majority of the game, including a 9-0 Western run in the final 2:14 that set the stage for Gonzaga’s Demetri Goodson and his last second heroics.

Despite the bitter ending, the season has been viewed as a success by all those wearing Western red and McDonald said that the bar has been set at a level that the team does not ever want to lower.

“We’ll talk about championship basketball from day one when we start workouts here in about a week,” McDonald said. “And that’s gonna be the standard for this program.”