JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's Ben Boggs looks to pass over Brown's Garrett Leffelman on Sunday.

JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Malcolm Delaney (23) goes up for two points over Brown's Peter Sullivan In Virginia Tech's season-opening win.

BLACKSBURG -- The supporting cast got off to a promising start in the Virginia Tech men's basketball team's opener Sunday.

After combining for an average of 10 points last season, Terrell Bell, Victor Davila and Dorenzo Hudson combined for 24 points in a 69-55 win over Brown at Cassell Coliseum.

"They can score," point guard Malcolm Delaney said. "It might be surprising to the media because they didn't really see it [before], but we know what they can do. They had different roles last year."

Delaney scored a game-high 21 points, and power forward Jeff Allen rang up 13 of his 17 points in the second half.

But the production of Delaney and Allen is a given. If the Hokies are to make up for the loss of A.D. Vassallo, now playing in France, their supporting cast must be more of a factor this season.

"People were so worried about A.D.'s 19 points [per game], but if we've got three people or four people that can come in and step up and get those points, then we're fine," Delaney said.

Bell is excited to be the new starter at small forward. He had eight points and a team-high seven rebounds after averaging 2.3 points and 2.7 rebounds last season.

The 6-foot-6 Bell said his offseason work in the weight room and on his shot has paid off.

"At my size, my length, I can easily get 10 points, 10 rebounds and maybe a few assists, so that's my plan for this year," he said.

Hudson, again starting at off-guard, scored eight points and dished out six assists.

"Dorenzo played really well," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said.

Davila, who has succeeded Cheick Diakite as one of the starting post players, scored eight points. But he had just three rebounds, and Greenberg was not thrilled with his defense.

"Victor can score, as you can see [with] that jump hook," Greenberg said. "He's got to get some rebounds. He's got to be a little tougher on the block. ... He had a hard time guarding a guy that was 6-8 and a step slower than me."

Freshman off-guard Ben Boggs, in his first game since suffering a broken leg last December, played 10 minutes off the bench. The Hidden Valley graduate was 1-of-2 from the field.

"I was a little nervous, to be honest, at first, but once I got in there and started playing, it was just like any other basketball game," Boggs said. "It felt definitely good to finally be back on the court and playing.

"It was something that when I was hurt, and the process of rehabilitating my leg, I was looking forward to. ... It gave me incentive to keep working hard and to push myself.

"I'm pretty close back to 100 percent."

The Hokies led from the opening basket but had trouble putting Brown (1-1) away. Their Ivy League foe used up much of the shot clock, and trailed just 51-45 with 8:38 to go.

"They were so hard to guard," Delaney said. "We went away from what we wanted to do defensively because we were so confused.

"They do a lot of screening with their posts. ... We got kind of confused with our bigs, and then the guards got caught up trying to help too much. ... It was just a weird offense."

Brown forwards Matt Mullery and Andrew McCarthy combined for 27 points.

The Bears "stretched us out and made us guard 25 seconds of possession," Greenberg said. "We didn't defend the post the way we're capable of."

The Hokies didn't display their new motion offense too much, opting to take advantage of mismatches inside.

The team's juniors did display new hairstyles. They decided to get mohawks, although Allen and Hudson had a bit more hair to pull it off than Bell and Delaney.

BROWN (1-1)

Taylor 2-3 1-2 5, P.Sullivan 0-6 4-6 4, Mullery 5-10 2-4 13, Williams 0-4 1-2 1, M.Sullivan 4-9 0-1 11, Gruber 0-0 0-0 0, Coleman 0-0 0-0 0, Leffelman 2-2 0-0 5, McCarthy 7-11 0-0 14, Herbert-Harris 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 21-47 8-15 55.

VIRGINIA TECH (1-0)

Allen 8-14 0-1 17, Bell 3-7 1-1 8, Davila 3-6 2-4 8, Hudson 3-7 1-2 8, Delaney 6-12 6-8 21, Green 1-1 0-0 3, Witcher 0-0 0-2 0, Boggs 1-2 0-0 2, Thompson 1-7 0-0 2. Totals 26-56 10-18 69.

Halftime--Virginia Tech 34-23. 3-Point Goals--Brown 5-14 (M.Sullivan 3-7, Leffelman 1-1, Mullery 1-2, Williams 0-2, P.Sullivan 0-2), Virginia Tech 7-17 (Delaney 3-7, Green 1-1, Bell 1-2, Hudson 1-3, Allen 1-4). Fouled Out--Bell. Rebounds--Brown 31 (M.Sullivan, P.Sullivan 5), Virginia Tech 33 (Bell 7). Assists--Brown 15 (Mullery 6), Virginia Tech 15 (Hudson 6). Total Fouls--Brown 19, Virginia Tech 16. A--9,693.