With the deepest and most talented roster in his ten years in charge at Brown, expectations are high for Mike Martin’s team as they opened the season against Division III Salve Regina on Tuesday night. The Bears did not disappoint, as they ran past their in-state rivals, 89-59.
Bruno opened up a 25-13 lead over the first nine minutes on the strength of six made three pointers, three alone from Loyola Chicago transfer Paxson Wojcik. They would add two more from downtown over the first twenty minutes, with the last from David Mitchell stretching the advantage to 21. An old-fashioned three from Mitchell made the score 48-26 at the break.
The Seahawks never made a run, as a steal from first-year Nana Owusu-Anane and a fastbreak layup by Dan Friday extended the lead to 30 at the 13-minute mark. A Mitchell layup with six minutes to go made it a game-high 37-point lead, 80-43, before Martin started emptying the bench.
The Bears dominated on the inside, hitting 65% of their two-point attempts. While they made 44% (8-for-18) of their three-pointers in the first half, they only managed 12% (2-17) in the final 20 minutes. On the defensive end, Brown had a +12 and +22% advantage on the glass, while forcing 24 Salve Regia turnovers. The Seahawks were held to 37% from two and 30% from three in the first half, they managed to up those totals to 69% from inside the arc and 38% from beyond in the second stanza.
Mitchell was the KenPom MVP with 13 points, four rebounds, one assist and a block in 16 minutes of action. Wojcik, whose brother Denham plays for Harvard and father Doug is an assistant coach at Michigan State, debuted with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists. Owusu-Anane, a 6’8″ forward who has played for the Canadian national team, added 10 points, four rebounds and three assists off the bench. 2020 second team All-Ivy Tamenang Choh had a relatively quiet night with three points, five rebounds and three assists. Jaylan Gainey, the 2020 Ivy Co-Defensive Player of the Year, had a solid eight points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes of action, but still seems to be getting in shape from a recent hamstring injury and bout with mononucleosis.
The Bears will look to make it two in a row when they travel to Chapel Hill to take on Hubert Davis and the No. 19 North Carolina Tar Heels Friday night. The 9 p.m. game will be available on the ACC Network.