ORLANDO, Fla.  - When Marianne Sene reunited with her son for the first time in seven years, it was a surreal moment. 

• Sene sent Fall to U.S. to obtain education and pursue basketball
• Hadn't seen one another in person in seven years
• Fall helped lead UCF to a win over No. 20 Cincinnati

“She had the same feeling as when I was born, and she had me in her arms," UCF men's basketball center Tacko Fall, Sene's son, said. "She had the exact same feeling as that day.”

Sene had sent Fall to the United States seven years ago to maximize his opportunities, which he took full advantage of. She had a chance to be present for his senior night Thursday against Cincinnati, a game Fall contributed 10 points and six rebounds in her honor. But the initial reunion between the two was a long time in the making.

“She came off the plane and she started to cry, and I started to cry, and Tacko wanted us to both stop crying," Mandy Wettstein, who was present, said. "It was very embarrassing, like, all the mom’s are crying.”  

Wettstein can assume that title, as her and her husband Davis have served as Fall's host family for the last six and a half years.

“When you understand his journey, when you understand his personality, his intellectual capabilities. His heart. There’s so many things that make Tacko 'Tacko Fall',” she said.

Wettstein and her family were there for Tacko every step of the way for more than half a decade. His fight for eligibility, his dominant days at Liberty Christian Prep, and even for when he got his driver's license. While his birth mother couldn't be there, they were.

"They have done so much for me, I can’t even say how much they have sacrificed themselves," Fall said. "It’s hard given all the attention that I attract. But they’ve been there for me, and I’m very thankful to have them in my life.”

After initially trying to bring in Sene for Fall's high school graduation, visa issues arose. So the Wettstein family made a late push to get her in town for his last home game instead, and after the visa was approved, the journey was put together in two week's time. It was the first time she had ever left Senegal.

“We were really determined, Davis and I, to get her here sometime during his senior year," Wettstein said. "Whether it was even just a game because she’s never seen Tacko play, just to see her son again, so it’s been years.”

And the reunion was as meaningful for her as it was for Fall and Sene.

“It’s really not something you can describe until you’ve been through it," she said. "He’s achieving the American Dream that [Sene] sent him here to do seven years ago when [she] put him on that plane. And how brave as a mom and a woman to do that?"

Sene, through her other son Fallou, also expressed appreciation.

“I’m so happy to see Mandy try to make me see my son, and I’m so happy that she did," she said. "It’s the first time i’ve seen him in seven years, I’m so happy.”

So after nearly seven years of looking after the big man, and being there for every moment, this one may have topped the list.

“To be able to come here seven years later and see all these end results and to be able to just play a role in getting her here and have that moment, [it's] something you’ll never forget," Wettstein said.