University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Western Kentucky
Gophers Open Asheville Championship with 73-69 Win Over WKU
11/12/2021 8:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota had four in double-figure scoring. Jamison Battle paved the way with 20 points, followed by Payton Willis with 19, Eylijah Stephens with 18 and Eric Curry with 11. Battle produced five three-pointers in the first half and 18 points, as Willis and Stephens followed in the second half when they registered 12 and 10 points, respectively. Curry also led the Gophers in rebounds (8), while Luke Loewe contributed five assists.Â
"Hats off to Western Kentucky, coach Stansbury does a great job," head coach Ben Johnson said. "That's a really good team, well-coached team, veteran leadership, veteran players. They're going to win a ton of games, so hats off to those guys. And also hats off to our guys. I thought we battled from start to finish. Guys showed a great resiliency, toughness, both mental and physical. Played a bunch of guys a lot of minutes, and they just kept coming, and they didn't break. We just keep learning the mental piece every single day, and our guys know that we have to play with that edge, we have to play with a chip on our shoulder, we to play with that fight, and they're starting to really embrace that.
"I thought our bench was unbelievable. Hearing guys that didn't play or guys that played limited minutes were into the game. We talk all the time about how that affects winning. Our guys feel that. Our huddles were great. All that energy translates into culture wins, and I just -- credit to our guys for persevering against a really good team and being able to play with the confidence and play with the lead and finish the game with a big road win."
Minnesota jumped out to an 11-2 lead just over four minutes into the game, as Willis, Battle, Stephens and Curry all hit early jumpers. After WKU responded to cut the Gophers' lead to 11-8 with 12:45 on the clock, Battle took over by scoring Minnesota's next 14 points, including four three-pointers, to stretch the advantage to 25-13 at the 6:02 mark. The Hilltoppers used an 8-0 run to pull within four points, 25-21, but Minnesota got a pair of treys from Stephens around a three-pointer from Willis to close the half on a 10-2 run for a 35-23 lead at the break. Battle equaled the 18 points he scored in the season-opener, all in the first half, as he knocked down 5-of-9 threes to go with six rebounds, two assists and a steal in the opening 20 minutes.Â
The Gophers were able to maintain a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half, and it twice reached a game-high 16 points, the last time at 59-43 with 10:16 left on a pair of free throws by Battle, as he reached 20 points on the night. But WKU started to chip away at the lead, outscoring the Gophers 19-9 over the next eight-plus minutes to cut it to six points, 68-62, with 1:58 remaining. WKU eventually cut the edge to 71-69 on a layup with three seconds left, but Stephens iced things for the Gophers with a pair of free throws.Â
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