The University of Mary Washington men's basketball team dropped a 57-54 decision at North Carolina Wesleyan College on Tuesday evening. The Eagles fall to 0-5 on the season.

The Eagles fell behind at the outset, as the Bishops scored the game's first seven points, and raised the lead to 11 at 14-3 with 15:06 left in the first half. From there, the Eagles scored six straight to cut the deficit to five, and a Taylor Johnson layup with 5:17 left cut the deficit to two, at 21-19. But NC Wesleyan scored the final eight points of the half to move their lead to 10, at 31-21.

In the second half, the lead swung between nine and 14 points for the early going,until the Bishops built the lead to 18, at 44-26, with 13:20 remaining. Curtis Rowser III and Matt Forrest hit back-to-back three pointers to cut into the deficit, and UMW chipped away to get the margin to three at the end after last-minute three pointers from Johnson and Forrest, but were unable to find the tying three in the final seconds.

NC Wesleyan shot 37.9 % (22-58), making 4-18 three pointers, and went 9-18 from the free throw line. The Eagles shot 32.2% (19-59), connecting for 6-26 three pointers, and went 10-15 from the charity stripe. UMW led in rebounds, 45-41, but the Eagles committed 20 turnovers.

Johnson led the Eagles with 15 points, while John Lutkenhaus had nine points and eight rebounds. Eric Dortch-Jones had 12 points for NC Wesleyan.

The Eagles will return to action on Wednesday, December 3, when they host Frostburg State University in the CAC opener at 8:00 p.m.