STAUNTON, Va. – The fifth-seeded Brevard College men's basketball team (12-12) fell 69-55 to no. 4 seed Mary Baldwin (14-12) 88-66 in the First Round of the USA South Conference Tournament held Tuesday evening at the Physical Activity Center in Staunton, Virginia.  With the win, Mary Baldwin advances to the semifinals of the postseason tournament to take on no. 1 seed Pfeiffer on Thursday.

Senior Charlie Hester led the Tornados in the defeat with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.  Hester drained four 3-pointers, while shooting 6-of-12 from the field.  Freshman Twain Wilson scored 15 points, while junior Jadon Carnes added eight points.  Graduate student Charles Reed dished out a team-high four assists and pulled down six rebounds.

Mary Baldwin had four players reach double figures led by 17 points from DJ Via and 16 points from Quentin Hart.  Jaden Ignacio recorded 10 points and a game-high five assists, while Raymond Benton registered 10 points and eight rebounds.

The first-round matchup started with Brevard taking an early 11-5 lead behind two 3-pointers by Hester and a and-one layup y Carnes.  A couple minute later, Carnes hit a 3-pointer off an assist by Hester to go up 14-10.

MBU responded with an 11-4 run followed by a 14-2 scoring blast to put the Fighting Squirrels up 35-22 with just under three minutes to play in the half.  The hosts then extended their lead to 42-28 at the intermission.

Brevard came out of the halftime locker room with a pair of defensive stops followed by a 3-pointer by Wilson.   A 3-pointer and a layup by Hester soon trimmed the deficit to seven points at 44-37.  However, Mary Baldwin would pull away again stretching its lead to as many as 18 points en route to the 69-55 home victory.

MBU won the turnover battle with a 14-6 advantage, resulting in 16 points off BC turnovers.  Mary Baldwin outshot Brevard 46% to 37% from the field, while making nine 3-pointers compared to six by the Tornados.  BC shot 9-of-11 from the free throw line compared to just 4-of-6 for MBU at the stripe.

The Tornados advanced to the USA South Conference Tournament for the fourth straight season in 2024-25.  This year's team finished .500 overall for the second consecutive season and was particularly stout at home with an 8-3 record at the Boshamer Gymnasium.

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-BC-