Brown’s men’s basketball team (0-1, 0-0 Ivy) opened its season Monday night against New Hampshire (1-0, 0-0 America East) in the Pizzitola Sports Center. With the Bears taking an early advantage, the Wildcats did not take the lead until less than 10 minutes were left in the matchup. Once they got their first taste of supremacy, the Wildcats didn’t let go, leaving Brown four points short of a win.
Bruno hoped to flip the script after finishing at the bottom of the Ivy League last season. Longtime Head Coach Mike Martin ’04 departed for the University of Michigan over the summer after 14 years at the program’s helm.
The Bears’ loss on Monday marked the first season game of new Head Coach Eric Reveno’s tenure. Reveno came to Brown after serving as the Associate Head Coach of Stanford’s men’s basketball team, and he was also the team’s general manager from 2025 to 2026. Prior to that, he also served as the associate head coach of the Georgia Tech and Oregon State men’s basketball teams and head coach at the University of Portland.
Despite the loss, “there were so many positives last night, including individual performances and suffocating defense at times,” Reveno wrote in a statement to The Herald.
Early in Monday’s matchup, it seemed like the Bears would ride their strong offensive and defensive performances to victory. Aided by an enthusiastic student section and the buzz of the season’s first game, Bruno claimed a 10-2 lead within the first few minutes, secured by a step-back jumper from guard Jerrell Barron Jr. ’28.
Guard Jeremiah Jenkins ’28 inspired Brown’s early momentum, scoring 10 of the Bears’ first 18 points. Jenkins went on to lead the Bears attack with 17 points, three assists, five rebounds and two steals over the course of the night.
Jenkins’ “number one contribution is running the team,” Reveno wrote. “He really does a great job of orchestrating the offense and making sure we are locked in on defense.”
Although Jenkins shined offensively in the first half, it was a defensive battle that left both teams struggling to score. Brown experienced a scoring drought for over 6 minutes of the first half, but the team maintained their lead and limited New Hampshire to just one field goal during that window.
The Bears remained in defensive lockdown through the first half, gathering five steals and forcing heavily-contested, low-percentage shots. At the end of the half, New Hampshire had scored just 20 points, having made just five of their 23 field goal attempts.
Forward N’famara Dabo ’27 helped guide Brown’s first-half defense, preventing New Hampshire from getting easy looks in the paint and shutting down possessions by grabbing heavily contested rebounds.
The Bears went into the locker room energized by their seven-point lead, seeming poised to continue shutting down the Wildcats.
But the momentum shifted in the Wildcats’ favor, and they quickly cut into Brown’s lead, scoring seven points to tie the game at 35. Just over a minute later, New Hampshire tied it again at 39, after which they took the lead for good.
New Hampshire was aided by several sloppy offensive possessions by Bruno that often ended in turnovers. This allowed New Hampshire to go on a 17-2 run and take a 52-41 lead — their largest lead of the game — with just three and a half minutes remaining.
In the second half, Bruno struggled with “missed free throws, execution and turnovers,” Reveno wrote. “We just had a few too many offensive lulls when we could not score the ball.”
New Hampshire guard Myles Blackley put his stamp on the game with just under six minutes remaining. From well beyond the three-point arc, he knocked down a straightaway shot, also drawing contact and a shooting foul from Bruno guard Ray Cuevas ’28. Blackley completed the four-point play to increase the Wildcats’ lead to five.
The Bears brought the game back within two points, driven by two high-arcing threes from guard Brady Loughlin ’29 and two driving layups from Jenkins.
Altogether, Loughlin compiled 12 points and added five rebounds, an assist and a steal.
But it wasn’t enough, and two free throws from New Hampshire guard Josiah Coleman put the Wildcats up 59-55 with just a second left, clinching the win.
Along with Bruno’s nine turnovers and 17 fouls in the second half, free throws ended up being a difference-maker in the game, according to Reveno. During the later half, Brown made five free throws and missed seven, while the Wildcats had three times as many successful free throws as the Bears.
The Bears will look to reset ahead of Friday night’s home match against Boston University (1-0, 0-0 Patriot League).
“We just need to keep putting in the work and trying to be the best teammates we can be,” Reveno wrote. “It is great to be off and running, and we will keep building.”
