NORFOLK, Va. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team opened up its 2026-27 season with a 61-49 loss at Old Dominion on Monday night in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.
Augustinas Kiudulas paced Western Michigan (0-1) with 12 points on the night and also grabbed five rebounds.
Tanner Hayhurst notched six points and a team-high seven rebounds, while
Jaylen Washington filled up the stats sheet with nine points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals.
With Old Dominion (1-0) holding an 8-7 edge, the Broncos ran off eight in a row, getting back-to-back, three-pointers from
Janis Jünemann and
Mason Bendinger to open up a 15-8 advantage. ODU used a 9-2 burst to get back even at 19-19 just over halfway through the opening period.
Western Michigan countered with five straight, getting a basket from
Rob Lee Jr. and then a triple from Washington to regain the advantage at 24-19. The Monarchs responded with the final 11 points of the half, including hitting a three-pointer just ahead of the buzzer to take a 30-24 lead into the locker room.
The Broncos came roaring out of the intermission, tallying the first 13 points out of the break and keeping the Monarchs off of the scoreboard for the first five minutes of the period to regain the lead, 37-30.
Old Dominion then put together a 14-4 stretch to overtake the Broncos, 44-41, just past the midway point of the half. At 46-44, the Monarchs ran off 11 of the next 12 points, stretching the margin to 57-45 with just under three minutes remaining.
WMU made 19-of-51 (37.3 percent) from the floor in the contest, while the Monarchs connected on 25-of-56 (44.6 percent) from the field.
Western Michigan opens up its 2026-27 home schedule on Thursday, as Kalamazoo College comes to University Arena for a 7 pm tip. For tickets to any WMU men's basketball home game, visit
wmubroncos.com/tickets.
