MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Trailing by nine with just under two minutes to play, the Western Michigan men's basketball team nearly came all the way back, but fell one point shy, 61-60, in the debut of new head coach Dwayne Stephens on Monday night at Minnesota.
Seth Hubbard pulled WMU (0-1) to within seven, 59-52, on a short jumper with 1:34 to play. The Golden Gophers (1-0) split a pair of free throws, and Lamar Norman Jr. drove down and laid one in to make it 60-54. Another free throw briefly made the margin seven again, but Markeese Hastings hit a triple to bring Western Michigan to within 61-57 with eight ticks remaining.