WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Behind a school-record performance and a staunch defensive effort, the William & Mary men's basketball team opened the season in grand fashion with a 96-44 win over Bridgewater on Saturday afternoon at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe recorded a program-best mark of 22 steals, forcing the Eagles into 25 turnovers and converting those into 36 points. W&M (1-0) led throughout in picking up its largest margin of victory in 17 years.
 
Five Tribe players scored in double figures led by freshman Justin Pierce's 17 points. He was 7-of-9 shooting, tied for team-high rebounding honors with six, and added four steals. Senior Omar Prewitt tallied 14 points of 6-of-9 shooting in just 19 minutes, while fellow classmate Daniel Dixon chipped in 11 points on 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Sophomore Paul Rowley, who made his first career start, finished with a career-high 10 points, and junior Connor Burchfield rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points off the bench.
 
The 22 steals bettered the old school mark of 18 set in 1981 and 1991. Eleven of the 13 W&M players to see action recorded a theft, including three each from Prewitt, Greg Malinowski and David Cohn. The Green and Gold also held Bridgewater, who averaged 7.3 triples per game last year, without a 3-point field goal as the Eagles misfired on all 16 attempts from deep. It marked the first time the Tribe held an opponent without a 3-pointer since the 2006 CAA Tournament against VCU. The Tribe's 52-point victory was it largest since downing Washington College, 92-39, to start the 1999-00 season.
 
After Bridgewater's Kevin Saylor scored back-to-back buckets to give the visitors and early lead, 5-3, the Tribe put the Eagles in the rearview thanks to a 15-2 run. Dixon knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers during the run, while Prewitt started and ended it with baskets, including a jumper at the 13:07 mark to extend the lead to 18-7.
 
The advantage bulged to 20 points for the first time, 36-16, on a Nathan Knight dunk with four and a half minutes left in the half. The Tribe ended the frame on the strongest of notes, holding the Eagles off the board over the final 2:45 to spark a 14-0 run. Burchfield started the final push with a 3-pointer, and Pierce added six points to the spurt.  Junior Jamison Glover's fast-break lay-up in the closing seconds provided the 55-22 margin at the break.  Defensively, W&M held Bridgewater to 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from the field in the first 20 minutes, while connecting at a 59.5-percent (22-of-37) clip on the offensive end.
 
Thanks to a 21-4 run in the opening six minutes of the second half, the Green and Gold advantage quickly ballooned to 40 and then 50 points. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Prewitt and Dixon extended the lead 42, 66-24, just two and half minutes into the second frame. Rowley and Pierce sandwiched 3-pointers around a Michael Schlotman lay-up as part of a 10-0 run to push the lead to 50, 76-26, with 14:15 left. The cushion reached its peak at 56, 88-32, on a Jack Whitman free throw with 8:10 left, before settling on the final of 96-44.
 
For the game, W&M shot 53.6 percent (37-of-69) from the field and knocked down 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) from long range. The Tribe also connected at an 80-percent (12-of-15) rate at the free throw line. Pierce, Whitman and Schlotman led the Tribe with six rebounds apiece. Whitman added eight points in 16 minutes, while Schlotman chipped in a career-high six points to go with four assists and two steals. In his first collegiate action, Knight finished with eight points and five rebounds. Cohn turned in a nice floor game, dishing out a game-high eight assists in only 16 minutes.
 
Defensively, the Tribe limited Bridgewater to 31.4 percent (16-of-51) from the field along with its 0-of-16 3-point effort. Bryce Boggs led the Eagles with 14 points, including an 8-of-10 effort from the free throw line, while Saylor added eight points.
 
The Tribe steps up in competition on Monday night, traveling to the Bluegrass State to face No. 13-ranked Louisville. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. from the KFC Yum! Center, and the game will be televised on the ACC Network. Fans in Williamsburg and the Mid-Atlantic Region can catch the action on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. The game will also be available on the WatchESPN app.
 
Tribe fans can also listen to all the men's basketball action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM and 107.9 Bach FM are the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network and the audio is also available over the Web at TribeAthletics.com.