Sophomore Zach Sloan erupted for team-highs of 17 points, six assists, three steals and added seven rebounds to lead Mary Baldwin's regular-season champion men's basketball team to a 66-61 USA South Conference victory over North Carolina Wesleyan on Senior Day at The PAC.

Sloan's classmate Logan Barbour also hit double digits for the sixth time this year, and the first time since mid-December, with 10 points while senior guard Quentin Hart, one of five senior honorees before the game, added eight points and eight rebounds in the physical contest.

The Fighting Squirrels (15-10, 11-3 USA South) finish the season with 12 wins in their last 15 games and broke the record for most wins in a season (14, set in 2022-23).  MBU, which won the regular-season title by two games over second-place Greensboro, earned a bye in Tuesday's first round of the playoffs and will host a semifinal game Thursday, Feb. 22 - game time and opponent to be determined after Tuesday night's first round games.

The teams traded leads, within four points either way, in the first half until senior Vernon Fraley ignited a 14-4 run with a three-point goal with 9:47 left in the first half.  Less than our minutes later, Barbour's three-point goal lifted MBU's lead to 31-22.  The hosts finished the half with a 38-33 advantage on Luke Ogle's layup in the final seconds.

The second half was just as tight, and just as physical, Four minutes into the half, the Battling Bishops went on an 11-3 run for a 50-43 advantage for their largest lead of the game.  Soon after, MBU exploded for a 17-4 scoring run, capped by a conventional three-point play by Hart, lifting the hosts' advantage to 60-56 with just over two minutes remaining.  NCW closed back to within a point, but the Fighting Squirrels fended off the final challenge and celebrated the five-point win.