Hassan Martin was looking forward to the challenge of battling Evan Bradds on Friday night, but that all went out the window when Bradds was sidelined with a concussion.

Instead, Martin stole the spotlight all for himself.

Martin scored 19 of his career-high 31 points in the first half to lead No. 23 Rhode Island past Belmont 82-73 at the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I.

“I was looking forward to the matchup, and that’s a great player,” Martin said of Bradds. “Once I got myself going, I just didn’t stop. That’s why I had that type of game.”

Jarvis Garrett scored 23 points and combined with Martin to make 22 of 31 shots. Martin’s was the first 30-point game by a Rams player since Four McGlynn scored 33 at Brown last Dec. 30.

“A focal point of the game was getting Jarvis going, and he was sensational,” Rams coach Dan Hurley said. “Hass was a monster, I just can’t believe he only blocked three shots.”

Kuran Iverson had 13 points and Rams leading scorer E.C. Matthews totaled six after being held to two in the first half.

Rhode Island (5-1) bounced back from its 75-65 setback against then-No. 1 Duke in the Hall of Fame Tip Off Tournament championship game last Sunday.

Garrett mustered only four points on 2-of-8 shooting against the Blue Devils, leading Hurley to give him a little tough love.

“After the Duke game, (coach) was just saying that I needed to be more aggressive,” Garrett said. “My teammates noticed it as well, they told me I wasn’t being myself, and I felt like I wasn’t being myself.”

Nick Smith tallied 17 points and Dylan Windler had 16 for the Bruins, who shot just 41 percent (25-for-61) from the field and 18.5 percent from 3-point range (5-for-27).

“The plan today was to keep them to five 3s or less, keep them under 25 percent in terms of their percentage from there,” Hurley said. “We felt like they wouldn’t be able to score enough 2s to beat us if we just eliminated that 3-point line.”

Bradds, the Bruins’ leading scorer averaging 20.7 points who led the nation in field goal percentage in each of the past two seasons, missed just his second game in four seasons.

Belmont (1-3) lost its second straight after a 78-61 thumping against Florida at the AdvoCare Invitational on Monday.

“We just played a really good team, a team I think could be playing late into this season,” Bruins coach Rick Byrd said.

Amanze Egekeze’s layup at 17:24 of the opening period gave the Bruins their last lead at 6-5.

Martin and Garrett totaled 34 points in the frame as Rhode Island led 46-31 at halftime.

The Rams led by 20 early in the second half. A 19-5 run brought Belmont within six with 12:03 remaining, but Rhode Island recovered to put the game away.

NOTES: Belmont and Rhode Island met for the first time, but the Rams are 2-2 against Ohio Valley Conference competition. ... Rhode Island improved to 23-10 all-time when ranked in the AP Top 25 poll. The Bruins’ last game against a ranked opponent before Friday was a 79-67 loss versus No. 4 Virginia in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. ... Rhode Island announced it will join Virginia, Vanderbilt and Seton Hall at the 2017 NIT Season Tip-Off at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. ... Belmont hosts Lipscomb and Rhode Island visits Valparaiso next Tuesday.