IOWA CITY-- Minnesota bounced back from its first Big Ten loss of the season to dethrone Iowa on Saturday afternoon. The Gophers were able to overtake the Hawkeyes 19-15 by winning five bouts on the afternoon.
The Gophers improve to 8-1 on the season and 5-1 in Big Ten competition.
The dual kicked off big for the Gophers as Sam Brancale was able to pick up his seventh win of the season in an upset of No. 3 Tom Gilman. Brancale was able to pin his Iowa opponent at 2:03 and earn six team points right off the bat for the Golden Gophers.
No. 3 Nick Dardanes took to the mat at 149 and was able to come up with three more points for the Gophers as he won by decision against. No. 13 Brody Grothus of Iowa. No. 14 Dylan Ness was able to follow suit and upset No. 2 Derek St. John by decision, 7-4, to allow the Gophers to sit at a 12-6 lead going into intermission.
Following a bit of a run for Iowa, No. 1 Scott Schiller extended his undefeated record on the season to 23-0, as he was about to pick up the only major decision of the dual by defeating No. 16 Nathan Burak to put the Gophers up by seven and utimately seal the deal for a Minnesota victory.
No. 3 Cornell 38, Brown 0
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Freshman Mark Grey and senior Mike Nevinger earned consecutive pins to help Cornell build a 16-0 lead after three matches and the Big Red swept through the lineup to knock off Brown 38-0 on Saturday afternoon at Friedman Wrestling Center.
The Big Red improved to 6-0 on the season and won its 60th consecutive Ivy League match dating back to 2002. The Bears slipped to 0-6 on the year.
Moita earned a surprising takedown 10 seconds into the match and nearly added another less than 30 seconds later before the two went out of bounds, but Garrett took the lead with a takedown of his own midway through the period. Later, Garrett tilted him to his back right away for a two-point nearfall, then after cutting Moita loose, was able to take him down quick to secure the major decision and a 14-5 victory.
After missing more than a month due to injury, Grey was able to light up the Friedman crowd with a pin in his return. He beat the clock in the second, turning Brown's Anthony Finocchiaro to the back with a cradle and squaring the shoulders on the mat with one second left to add six points to Cornell's total.
Dylan Palacio made it six conseuctive wins in the dual after the intermission, getting a first period takedown to take an early lead. A Phillip Marano escape in the second sent the match into the third tied 2-2, but with Palacio having a ride time advantage of 1:35. The freshman added a pair of takedowns in the third to clinch the 7-3 decision.
The feature match of the day was at 184 lbs. with third-ranked Gabe Dean meeting No. 10 Ophir Bernstein, with Dean escaping with a 3-2 decision. It was Dean's second win of the year against Bernstein, as the two met earlier in the year in Las Vegas.
No. 6 Oklahoma 20, No. 24 Oregon State 18
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Oklahoma (8-1 overall, 2-0 Big 12) escaped with a 20-18 win against Oregon State (7-5 overall, 2-0 Pac-12) on Saturday afternoon inside Gill Coliseum.
Entering the final match at 197 lbs. between No. 3 Travis Rutt and No. 13 Taylor Meeks, the Sooners trailed 18-17. Rutt secured a 7-3 decision against Meeks to give OU the victory.
The dual began with the heavyweight division, and the Sooners suffered losses in the first two matches and fell behind 9-0 before Cody Brewer added a 13-4 major decision against Drew Van Anrooy to cut into Oregon Stateâs lead.
No. 15 Nick Lester continued to decrease the deficit with a decision against redshirt freshman Joey Delgado, 5-3, at 141 lbs. Then, No. 2 Kendric Maple gave the Sooners their first lead at 10-9 after he topped No. 12 Scott Sakaguchi in the 149 lbs. bout by an 8-6 decision.
The Sooners also registered wins at 165 and 174 lbs. from redshirt freshman Clark Glass and No. 1 Andrew Howe, respectively. Glass defeated sophomore Toney Chay by decision, 5-2, while Howe added a 17-6 major decision of junior Joe Latham. With the win, Howe improved to 15-0 on the season.
Oregon State took the matches at 285 lbs., 125 lbs., 157 lbs. and 184 lbs. No. 15 Amarveer Dhesi of Oregon State defeated OUâs No. 17 Ross Larson by a 6-2 decision in the nightâs first match at heavyweight.
No. 7 Missouri 31, Northern Illinois 0
DeKALB, Ill. -- A young Mizzou team was forced to quickly forget about their first dual loss of the season Friday night, and did so by way of a 31-0 shutout victory versus MAC-foe Northern Illinois on Saturday afternoon. All 10 Tigers to touch the mat emerged victorious, including a major decision victory by sophomore Cody Johnston in his first career start.
Missouri head coach Brian Smith gave Johnston the nod at 184 pounds Saturday afternoon, and the Tiger sophomore didn't disappoint. Johnston was a scoring machine early on, tallying three takedowns and two nearfalls en route to a 13-3 major decision over Caleb Busson, the only bonus point victory on the day. It was his first major decision of the season, and his 11th win in bonus point territory. Johnston was the 18th grappler to make a dual start for the Tigers in six dual meets.
With five freshmen in Mizzou's starting lineup, many young Tigers are starting to grow up quickly, especially after the adversity they faced Friday night in Northern Iowa. Freshman Joey Lavallee went 2-0 on the road trip thanks in large part to a takedown with 11 seconds remaining at 157 pounds. Northern Illinois' Andrew Morse led 3-2 with riding time locked up, and Lavallee found a way to wrap him up with just seconds left. The bout went to overtime, where Lavallee only needed 10 more seconds for a takedown in sudden victory.
"We were knocked down last night by a really good team. I know as a young team they were questioning who we were as a team, and they responded the right way," said Smith following his program's second shutout in two weeks. "I mean, we had (Joey) Lavallee down 3-0 and then coming back to tie it with under 30 seconds to go, and then win it in overtime. And Cody Johnston didn't even know he was wrestling until yesterday, and stepped up big for us, not just by winning but getting bonus points as well. We had the right attitude and right responses to the adversity we faced this weekend. I really enjoy this team, and the character and fight they bring, which we saw today."
Heavyweight Devin Mellon closed out Saturday's matinee dual with a 2-1 overtime victory in what was a big matchup with possible implications for the MAC Conference Championships in March. Mellon and NIU's Jared Torrence traded escapes in the first seven minutes to send the bout to overtime tied at one-a-piece. Mellon and Torrence would go to a tiebreaker, where Mellon would escape and then proceed to keep Torrence from getting his own escape for the win. Mellon, tabbed No. 2 at heavyweight in the conference, backed up his ranking by topping Torrence, ranked No. 3 in the MAC.
