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William and Mary did what it was expected to Saturday in its men’s basketball season opener, thoroughly dominating Bridgewater College of the Division III Old Dominion Athletic Conference for a 96-44 win in Kaplan Arena.
Ahead of Monday’s trip to No. 13 Louisville, the Tribe tallied a school-record 22 steals and held Bridgewater to 0-of-16 behind the 3-point arc in the schools’ first meeting since 1986. It marked the first time William and Mary kept an opponent without a 3-point basket since 2006.
Five Tribe players scored in double figures, led by freshman Justin Pierce’s 17 points and William and Mary shot 53.6 percent from the field including 10-of-24 from downtown.
A well-executed start, which included a 55-22 halftime advantage, along with the Tribe’s effort, were the most satisfying takeaways for 14th-year William and Mary coach Tony Shaver.
“You have a 30-point lead and Daniel Dixon is diving on the floor,” Shaver said. “We have to have that to be a championship-caliber team. We don’t talk about winning championships. We talk about playing like a champion every day. That’s a championship play, regardless of the score.”
Dixon, a senior guard, led the Tribe with a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 11 points. His classmate and fellow captain Omar Prewitt, the leading returning scorer in the Colonial Athletic Association, scored 14 and was joined on the double-figure scoring list by redshirt sophomore forward Paul Rowley with 10 and junior guard Connor Burchfield with 11.
Eleven of the 12 William and Mary players that scored played at least 13 minutes and the Tribe’s bench outscored Bridgewater 48-12. It is the kind of dispersion to be expected in a blowout win, but representative of the depth and versatility that should mark William and Mary’s team, picked to finish third in the CAA.
Junior guard/forward Greg Malinowksi (7.7 points last season) is only recently returning from an injury that kept him sidelined several months of the offseason and was the first player off the bench Saturday, scoring one bucket in 17 minutes.
Former transfer and redshirt junior point guard David Cohn, the third captain with Dixon and Prewitt, scored five points and dished out eight assists.
Pierce had a sterling debut, with six rebounds and four steals to go along with 7-of-9 shooting, including a 3-pointer in 18 minutes of action. Highlights for the 6-6 winger from Glen Ellyn, Ill. included a couple of slams, one on a put-back of a missed Malinowski layup, and a pair of steals that he finished on the other end for lay-ins.
“Coming in as a freshman, I’m just going to try to do whatever it takes to help the team win,” Pierce said. “Day in and day out, I can see how hard guys like Omar, Daniel and David – They set the tone for our team.”
Another Tribe rookie, Nathan Knight, looks poised to make an instant impact. The 6-10, 247-pounder from Syracuse, N.Y. had five boards and eight points, all scored around the rim, although he did step out for a couple of jumper attempts.
William and Mary will need him Monday against Louisville’s towering front line that includes Prewitt’s former AAU teammate Ray Spalding, a 6-10 role player for the Cardinals.
Prewitt hails from Mount Sterling, Ky. and Tribe forward Jack Whitman, who contributed eight points and six rebounds Saturday, is from Lexington.
“I’m from a small town so I’m guessing the entire town is going to be there,” Prewitt said. “I think every single one of them has asked me for a ticket already, but I can’t do that. But there should be a lot of green in that building.”
Holtzman can be reached by phone at 757-298-5830.