Cowboys lack energy, still beat Nothern Iowa 30-6

Oklahoma State wins third-straight dual

By Scott Nulph Stillwater NewsPress

STILLWATER —

Oklahoma State wrestling coach John Smith knew coming into Thursday’s dual match with Northern Iowa that the Panthers would likely attempt some slow-down tactics on his No. 4 Cowboys in an effort to shorten matches.

And UNI did. And for a while it worked.

But the Cowboys simply had too much talent, winning the last six matches for a 30-6 victory at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

The win, Oklahoma State’s third straight, improved OSU’s record to 11-2-1 heading into Sunday’s Big 12 showdown at Missouri.

However, it didn’t necessarily give OSU’s head man a confident push into Sunday.

“I thought we were a little flat-footed (Thursday); it was kind of a slow dual meet,” Smith said. “They kind of slowed us down by tying up our head a little bit, tying up our arms, and we didn’t seem too excited to put any more energy into it.”

After OSU senior 125-pound Chris Notte opened up with a 9-3 win, it appeared the Cowboys were going to have plenty of life when redshirt freshman Jordan Oliver pinned UNI’s Joey Lazor at 2 minutes and 45 seconds of the first period at 133 pounds. It was Oliver’s eighth pin of the season and improved his record to 22-2.

“Coach preaches no matter who you’re wrestling or what team, you’ve got to go out there and treat every match as the same,” Oliver said. “I was looking at the mind set of going out there and putting up some points and dominate the match.”

The energy from the pin quickly faded, however, as UNI (6-11) won the next two matches to pull within 9-6.

At 157 pounds OSU’s Neil Erisman avoided going to overtime with Tyson Reiner with a 3-2 win on riding time.

Then the Cowboys started to take control.

OSU won the final six matches with two major decisions.

Sophomore Mike Benefiel won 11-2 at 174 pounds and the nation’s No. 1 heavyweight, Cowboy senior Jared Rosholt, ended the dual with a 10-2 win at 285.

“I did like what we did at (184), scoring a major decision,” Smith said. “I liked that Rosholt had a big third period. That (UNI) guy can be tough to wrestle and when the match started it looked like Rosholt was a guy who could probably go out and throw him and put him on his back and pin him.

“The guy’s a scrappy little guy, wrestled a long time.”

Rosholt improved to 25-1 on the season.

OSU wrestled without sophomore Jamal Parks at 141, who was suspended for Thursday’s dual due to violation of team policies. Smith said he expects Parks back in the lineup on Sunday.

Smith said he also expects a little more energy and emotion from his team. At least he hopes so.

“If we have any kind of match like this on Sunday, we’ll have a hard time winning,” he said.

 

OSU 30, UNI 6

125: Chris Notte (OSU) def. Caleb Flores (UNI), 9-3

133: Jordan Oliver (OSU) pinned Joey Lazor (UNI), 2:45

141: Charlie Ettelson (UNI) def. Tyler Shinn (OSU), 4-0

149: Trent Washington (UNI) def. Jake Peck (OSU), 6-2

157: Neil Erisman (OSU) def. Tyson Reiner (UNI), 3-2

165: Alex Meade (OSU) def. David Bonin (UNI), 8-4

174: Mike Benefiel (OSU) def. Jarlon Beets (UNI), maj. dec., 11-2

184: Clayton Foster (OSU) def. Scott Hazen (UNI), 11-5

197: Alan Gelogaev (OSU) def. Dustin Bauman (UNI), 7-3

285: Jared Rosholt (OSU) def. Christian Brantley (UNI), maj. dec., 10-2