The Mary Baldwin Fighting Squirrels men's basketball team dropped a tightly contested conference matchup to N.C. Wesleyan, 77–74, on Tuesday night.

Mary Baldwin opened the game strong, using a 7–0 run to take a 20–16 lead midway through the first half. Sophomore DJ Via led the early charge, scoring 19 first-half points, including five three-pointers. Via finished the game with a team-high 24 points, marking his second consecutive 24-point performance.

Sophomore Rony Hogarth and senior Raymond Benton each added seven points in the opening half. The Fighting Squirrels trailed by one at halftime.

N.C. Wesleyan extended its lead to 12 points with 11 minutes remaining in the second half, but Mary Baldwin battled back to cut the deficit to two with six minutes to play. Benton highlighted the comeback effort with a gritty sequence, collecting three offensive rebounds on one possession before Marquis Dunklin converted a contested layup.

Benton scored 10 of his 17 points in the second half and ended with a double-double with 13 rebounds, his third of the season.

Mary Baldwin had a chance late, trailing by three with 10 seconds remaining, but turnovers proved to be the difference. N.C. Wesleyan secured a steal on the final possession to seal the victory. The Fighting Squirrels committed 16 turnovers in the game, compared to eight by the Battling Bishops.

Mary Baldwin will hit the road Friday, January 9 to take on William Peace University at 6:00 p.m.
 
Leading Scorers:
DJ Via-24
Raymond Benton-17
Rony Hogarth-13
Marquis Dunklin-11
 
Rebounding Leaders:
Raymond Benton-13
Marquis Dunklin-6
Rony Hogarth-6