Mary Baldwin men's basketball sophomore guard Zach Sloan scored half of his six points on a single shot as time was running out to lift the Fighting Squirrels to a 70-69 USA South Conference men's basketball victory at Brevard College Wednesday.  It was the first conference game of the season for both teams.

Junior guard Brett Asbury led the visitors with his first double-double of the season - 14 points and 12 rebounds - while sophomore guard Mekhi Reid (12 pts.) and senior guard Jaden Ignacio (11 pts.) also contributed to the win.  Junior center Luke Ogle posted nine points, 6 rebounds and four blocked shots for MBU.

The host Tornados were led by Charles Reed with a game-high 16 points and Charlie Hester with 15 points and eight rebounds.

The teams played a back and forth first half, with MBU leading most of the way and at one point pushing the advantage to seven points before ending the first 20 minutes with a 38-35 lead. 

The Fighting Squirrels continued to lead throughout the second half, again building leads of six or seven points on several occasions, before Brevard put together an eight-point surge to gain its first lead since early in the first half.  Jeremy Posner's bucket with 5:59 left gave the hosts a 62-60 lead.

The teams traded the lead until five-straight Brevard points for a 69-67 advantage, capped by a Quincy Carter three-pointer with 1:42 left.  The teams traded possessions down the stretch until Vernon Fraley rebounded an MBU miss and found Sloan outside the arch.  Sloan made no mistake to win the game in the final second.

MBU (5-7, 1-0 USA South) returns to action Saturday with another conference road trip, this time to Methodist College for a noon battle.  Note the starting time was changed on Jan. 4, 2024.