ETSU's Cinderella story cut short in 76-69 loss to Samford in the SoCon Championship game

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WCYB) — The Bucs magical ride to the SoCon Championship game ended in defeat with ETSU left heartbroken after suffering a 76-69 loss to Samford to close out their season.

On their fourth game of the tournament, looking to be the first team to make a four game run of it since Clemson in 1939, the Bucs found themselves in a hole early.

Giving up an 11-2 run to open the game, Head Coach Brooks Savage called a timeout to regroup and the Bucs were able to do just that, responding with an 11-2 run of their own.

The two teams would trade the lead back and forth throughout the remainder of the first half with the Bulldogs pulling ahead for the 40-38 halftime advantage.

Back-to-back threes from Samford would hand the Bulldogs the nine point lead with 15 to go, but once again the Bucs were able to rein it in.

Bucs were down one with 6:23 remaining, but some costly missed free throws in that second half and ETSU could not make up the distance, falling 76-69.

Four players dominated the scoring in this one, ETSU's Ebby Asamoah had 18 to lead the way for the Bucs while Quimari Peterson added 17. For the Bulldogs it was Jermaine Marshall with 23 and Tournament Most Outstanding Player Achor Achor leading all scoring with 25.

53 fouls called in the 2 hour 37 minute game.

While the Bucs fell short this time, the group is confident they will be back and ready to rise to the moment.