Archdeacon: Brea brings Dominican pride to Dayton hoops

“In school I’ve always been the youngest dude in my class and when I was a freshman, I was just 12 years old,” Brea said. “I was 5-foot-11, but I was thin and fragile. Public school basketball there is physical and I wasn’t really prepared for it.”

He estimated some 50 kids tried out for the junior varsity basketball team.

“They told us those who made the team would get a phone call or an email or something,” he said. “I got nothing.

“Then in school I saw the team was having practices and getting ready for games and I didn’t know anything about it.

“I knew I’d been cut.

“And I won’t lie, I took it pretty hard. That’s the first time in my life I’d ever been rejected.”

His dad – Stephen Brea – had played professionally in the Dominican Republic and he took his son under his wing.

“He told me, ‘Forget about playing games. We’re just going to work this year,’” Brea said.

His dad knew Dwayne Mitchell, the former Rice High School coach now leading the hoops program at Monsignor Scanlan High in the Bronx, and introduced his son to him.

“(Mitchell) told me, ‘Listen, you’re gonna be good. I gotcha now,’” Brea said. “We worked out every day at the Gauchos Gym (the Bronx home of the famed New York Gauchos team) and I became a totally different player. I had a different skill set and, most importantly, I had confidence.”

He enrolled at Scanlan and the following season he practiced with the varsity and played on the JV team.

His final two years of high school he starred for the Crusaders’ varsity, averaging 18 points per game as a junior and as a senior he averaged 20.8 points and 7.8 rebounds a game and won second team All New York honors.

By then a 6-foot-5 guard, Brea drew considerable college interest and narrowed his choices to St. John’s, Seton Hall, Illinois and UD.

He chose the Flyers, in part, because he was recruited by assistant coach Ricardo Greer, a fellow Dominican-American who grew up like he did in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan.

Greer, the former Pitt great, had played for the Dominican Republic’s national team and had spent part of his long pro career in the country.

He knew Brea’s dad and Brea’s godfather, the hoops legend Felipe Lopez, who was born in the Dominican Republic, starred at St. Johns and was a first round pick of the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies.

“Coach Greer really helped my decision to come to Dayton,” Brea said.

And that’s why he first returned to Norman Thomas for his transcript.

When he did, he said he ran into his old coach, the one who had cut him:

“He told me, ‘I’m upset. I wish we’d kept you. I wish you had stayed.’”

Brea had no hard feelings:

“It turns out what happened my freshman year – getting cut and being so upset – made me see I had to work a lot harder to be who I wanted to be. It made me who I am today.”

Pride in his roots

Brea grew up on the border of Inwood and Washington Heights, the latter which is featured in the award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda musical “In The Heights,” which was adapted from the book by Quiara Alegria Hudes.

The show – which opened in 2005, won two Tony Awards and a Grammy, played at the Schuster Center five years ago and was turned into a movie last year – tells the story of three days in a vibrant section of Washington Heights, not far from the 181st St. subway stop.

It centers around a likeable Dominican bodega owner named Usnavi and outside his shop you can smell the coffee and hear the music and neighborhood chatter of the lively, tight-knit community. You quickly learn of their love and struggle and dreams.

One of the main characters is Nina Rosario, the daughter of Kevin, the owner of the taxi company, who is going to Stanford University. Everyone in the barrio admires her as “the one who made it out.”

In some ways, Brea is the hoops version of Nina.

“When I watched the movie the first time, I was surprised,” Brea said. “It was spot on. It was actually able to bring our culture – what we represent – to life. When I go back to Washington Heights, that’s just what I feel.”

Brea has real pride in his Dominican roots. His dad and mom, Mayra Villar, both were born on the Caribbean island and he played for the D.R.’s U-17 national team at the Fiba Centrobasket Championship in San Juan in 2017.

“To be able to represent the country and go back there an inspire the kids was big for me,” Brea said.

“It’s a poor country. Everything you get there is earned and you’re brought up with tough skin. But we also have a warm heart. People are loving and caring and there’s a real sense of family.

“When you’re playing for the country, you realize you’re playing for something bigger than yourself. Not a lot of players are able to make it out and come to the United States and make a big impact in basketball.”

Although he has settled in at UD, he has not forgotten his roots.

A Dominican flag hangs on his bedroom wall in the apartment he shares with teammate Mustapha Amzil. When his family comes to visit, he gives them the flag to wave inside UD Arena.

He said he always asks his mom to bring along some Dominican food, especially rice and beans – “I like the brown beans best with white rice,” he said – maduros (fried sweet plantains), avocado, chicken and goat.

While you might think Dayton and Washington Heights are worlds apart, he disagreed:

“To me, Dayton is really similar in a way. The (UD) community is small and everybody knows everybody. Everybody has a good heart. And that kind of love and positivity around you is contagious to everybody else.

“The community here is one of the first things I heard about and it is amazing. It’s the exact same thing I feel at home.”

Growing into his role

Brea isn’t the first Dominican presence on the Flyers.

Jhery Matos – who was born in Santo Domingo, D.R, and was another Greer recruit – transferred to UD in 2018. After an injury-shortened first season, he came off the bench in the wondrous 2019-20 campaign when the Flyers went 29-2 before their NCAA Tournament dreams were cut short by COVID.

Matos transferred to Charlotte for a grad season there and now is playing professionally in Spain.

While the Flyers weren’t able to land two other high-profile Dominican recruits – one went to New Mexico, the other to Mississippi State – Brea is growing into a long-range threat for the Flyers.

“Since I was a little kid, I always liked shooting the ball,” he said. “When I was real small, I’d shoot from as far out as I could. I wouldn’t reach the rim, but I just kept trying and trying.

“As I grew older, I watched the great shooters like Steph Curry and Reggie Miller. I love to be able to shoot from that far. Not everybody can do that. And when you can, you make a difference.”

Coming into tonight’s game with UMass at UD Arena, the redshirt freshman leads the 19-8 Flyers in three-point field goals (43) this season. He’s averaging 6.9 points per game and has had some huge outings, none more so than his 20 points against St. Bonaventure in mid-January.

Early in the season he had 10 points in the Flyers biggest win of the year, a 74-73 upset of No 4 Kansas. In UD’s last outing, he scored 10 points off the bench in a 74-62 victory at St. Joseph’s on Saturday.

“He provides us with (long range) shooting and that stretches the defense,” said Flyers coach, Anthony Grant. “He has a really high upside and has a chance to be really good for us.”

Brea said he’s now understanding his role:

“I’m doing everything possible to help us win. Right now that’s the most important thing. As it comes toward the end of the year, we want to place ourselves in the best possible position. I really think we’re going to do something special here.”

And that brings us back to “In the Heights” and a fitting line that also captures Brea’s story from under-developed freshman to a growing force for the Flyers.

As Kevin, the cab company owner, emphasized:

“Start small, dream big.”