Junior center Luke Ogle was one of four Mary Baldwin players to score in double digits, finishing with team highs of 15 points and eight rebounds, to earn Playoff MVP and lead the Fighting Squirrels to a 72-62 victory over Greensboro in the 2024 USA South Men's Basketball Championship Game at the PAC Saturday.

Jaden Ignacio, Zach Sloan and Quentin Hart each added 13 scores for the winners, who earned an automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.  Ignacio and Hart were named with Ogle to the All-Tournament Team.

The victory was the first team title since MBU joined the USA South in 2009.  The Fighting Squirrels' only other NCAA Championship representation since joining the USA South was cross country runner Sophia Stone '15, who was the top runner in the region her first two years in Staunton.  Stone was inducted into the MBU and the USA South conference Halls of Fame the past two years.

The NCAA Tournament 64-team bracket will be announced early Monday afternoon (2/26), which will reveal MBU's first-round opponent and location (game time to be announced later in the week).  The Tournament bracket show is scheduled for 1 p.m. on the NCAA.com website.

Saturday, MBU hosted the only team to beat them twice in the regular season, and the teams battled back and forth for the first 20 minutes.  Greensboro, led by Tim Boulware's game-high 19 points, erased a seven-point MBU lead late in the first half to tie the game before Mekhi Reid's bucket with 25 seconds left to send the Fighting Squirrels to the break with a 30-28 advantage.

Early in the second half, MBU surged to a pair of seven point leads.  After the first, five minutes into the half, Greensboro bounced back behind Isaiah Pruitt's consecutive three-point goals to cut MBU's lead to one point, 38-37.  The Fighting Squirrels aggressive trapping pressure defense ignited a 17-4 run over the next five minutes to helped the hosts build a 55-41 advantage with 11 minutes left.

The Pride again tried to rally, cutting the deficit to six points before Hart's three started another 10-2 MBU surge that set up the championship celebration.

WHSV TV report:  https://www.whsv.com/2024/02/25/mary-baldwin-defeats-greensboro-wins-usa-south-athletic-conference-championship/

The hosts were timely in their 11 three-point goals (28 attempts, 39.3%) and strong at the free throw line (13-for-14, 92.9%), all in the second half.

It'll be MBU's fifth team (first men's team) to advance to the NCAA Championships.  The most recent was the 2006 Volleyball team, which represented MBU's previous conference (Atlantic Women's Collegiate Conference).  Other MBU teams that won AWCC crowns and advanced to the NCAA championships were the 2004 and 2005 softball teams and the 2004 women's basketball team.