The Mary Baldwin men's basketball team struggled to find an offensive rhythm in a 71–56 loss to William Peace on Saturday.
The Fighting Squirrels opened the game with energy as junior center
Jamal Ukaegbu slipped behind the Pacers' defense for an alley-oop from sophomore
DJ Via. That early spark helped Mary Baldwin jump out to a seven-point lead in the first half.
William Peace responded late in the half, closing on a 15–2 run to take a 35–27 advantage into halftime. Tyler Whitehurst led the Pacers in the opening period with seven points. Senior
Raymond Benton paced Mary Baldwin with nine points, while sophomore
Rony Hogarth added eight.
The Pacers capitalized on Mary Baldwin's miscues, scoring 12 points off turnovers.
William Peace carried its momentum into the second half, knocking down four straight three-pointers during a 12–0 run. The Pacers continued to pull away, extending their lead to as many as 26 points with 5:28 remaining.
William Peace shot 64 percent from the field in the second half and an impressive 77 percent from beyond the arc. Mary Baldwin struggled offensively, finishing at 43 percent shooting and just 10 percent from three-point range.
The Fighting Squirrels will look to bounce back on the road against Greensboro College on Wednesday, February 11. Mary Baldwin fell by 14 points to the Pride in their first meeting of the season and will aim to split the series. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Notes:
- Leading Scorers:
- MBU
- WPU
- Shawn Jones-15
- Elijah Green-14
- Three Point Percentage
- Points in the Paint
- Bench Points
