Jan. 29, 2012
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IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa wrestling team defeated No. 3 Minnesota, 19-17, Sunday afternoon inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes won five of the first six matches and used bonus points from redshirt freshmen Nick Moore and Mike Evans to hand Minnesota its first conference loss.
Moore scored an 11-2 major decision over Alec Ortiz at 157 to give the Hawkeyes a 13-4 lead and Evans followed with a third period pin at 165 to extend the Hawkeye lead to 19-4. The bonus-point wins proved to be the difference in the final score. Minnesota (9-3, 6-1) rallied and finished the dual with four straight wins but was unable to close the gap.
“The first thing is, this is a team win,” said head coach Tom Brands. “Regardless of how pretty it is, it’s 5-5, it’s a team win. Sometimes you have to give credit for a team win, and I don’t do a good job of giving team credit. There’s a big team here and sometimes when you’re in a fire fight, you have to give credit where credit is due.”
Junior Matt McDonough set the stage for the dual when he scored a 7-1 decision over top-ranked Zach Sanders at 125. McDonough scored a takedown in the final minute of the first period and added a reversal to open the second frame, building a 4-0 lead. After a Sanders escape, McDonough added another takedown to build a 6-1 edge before riding out the Gopher for the entire third frame, adding a final point for riding time (2:56).
Tony Ramos and Montell Marion backed up McDonough with consecutive decisions at 133 and 141. Ramos started the scoring with a second-period escape and added a takedown with three seconds on the clock to build a 3-0 lead entering the third. Minnesota’s Chris Dardanes then cut the lead to 3-2 with a reversal before Ramos escaped to extend his lead to 4-2. He finished the match with 1:03 of riding time to earn the 5-2 decision.
Marion extended the Hawkeye lead to 9-0 with a 3-2 decision over Minnesota’s Nick Dardanes. Marion scored a third-period escape to tie the frame, 1-1, before scoring a takedown with 49 seconds on the clock to build a 3-1 advantage. Dardanes added an escape to make the score 3-2, but Marion held on for the victory, the 80th of his career (80-19).
Minnesota’s Dylan Ness cut the team lead to 9-4 with a 15-7 major decision over Michael Kelly at 149 before the Hawkeyes answered with consecutive bonus-point wins.
Moore scored a pair of takedowns at 157 and added three nearfall points to build a 7-1 first period lead against Alec Ortiz. He then rode the Gopher the length of the second period to take a six-point advantage into the third period, where he added one escape, a point for stalling and another takedown to build a 10-1 advantage. He surrendered a late escape but piled up 3:26 of riding time to earn the final 11-2 decision.
Evans kept the Hawkeyes rolling and scored what would eventually become the difference in the match when he flattened Cody Yohn in 6:02. Evans built a 7-0 lead entering the third period before he turned a half-nelson into three nearfall points and secured his sixth pin of the season.
“When Nick went out there and got bonus points, that pushes me,” said Evans. “It makes me think I’ve got to get bonus points too. I think we rolled well off each other.”
Trailing 19-4, Minnesota mounted its rally with four straight wins starting at 174. Sophomore Ethen Lofthouse had built a 3-0 advantage before giving up a late second period takedown and surrendering a reversal 40 seconds into the third frame. Minnesota’s Logan Storley then rode out the period and earned a point for stalling to finish with a 5-3 win.
Minnesota then cut the team lead to 19-11 when Kevin Steinhaus recorded a 12-4 major decision over Vinnie Wagner at 184.
Iowa’s Grant Gambrall had a chance to clinch the dual when he took a 3-2 lead into the third period at 197, but Minnesota’s Sonny Yohn tied the match with an early escape and secured the win with a takedown in the final 10 seconds to earn a 5-3 win and trim the Iowa lead to 19-14.
The dual ended in Iowa’s favor when Tony Nelson was unable to score bonus points against Iowa’s Blake Rasing at 285. Rasing had never lost to Minnesota’s fourth-ranked heavyweight, but Nelson was able to score a pair of takedowns and accumulate 1:22 of riding time en route to a 7-2 victory.
The Hawkeyes (10-3, 5-2) return to the mat Sunday, Feb. 5, at 1 p.m. (CT) when Wisconsin visits Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The contest will be broadcast by AM-800 KXIC and streamed online at btn.com and hawkeyesports.com via Hawkeye All-Access.
NOTES: Attendance was 9,511… Iowa has won its last seven duals against Minnesota… Iowa has won 19 straight Big Ten duals inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena… Tony Ramos is undefeated in 14 matches inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
#6 University of Iowa 19, #3 University of Minnesota 17
125 – Matt McDonough (I) dec. Zach Sanders (M), 7-1; 3-0
133 – Tony Ramos (I) dec. Chris Dardanes (M), 5-2; 6-0
141 – Montell Marion (I) vs. Nick Dardanes (M), 3-2; 9-0
149 – Dylan Ness (M) major dec. Michael Kelly (I), 15-7; 9-4
157 – Nick Moore (I) major dec. Alec Ortiz (M), 11-2; 13-4
165 – Mike Evans (I) pinned Cody Yohn (M), 6:02; 19-4
174 – Logan Storley (M) dec. Ethen Lofthouse (I), 5-3; 19-7
184 – Kevin Steinhaus (M) major dec. Vinnie Wagner (I), 12-4; 19-11
197 – Sonny Yohn (M) dec. Grant Gambrall (I), 5-3; 19-14
285 – Tony Nelson (M) dec. Blake Rasing (I), 7-2; 19-17