Rose impresses in wrestling’s loss to #9 Missouri

The final score may not indicate it, but John Stutzman’s squad gave the #9 ranked Missouri Tigers all they could handle at Alumni Arena in a 28-8 loss. This was the Bulls’ first loss since December 4th. Redshirt freshman sensation Nate Rose continued his hot streak and Brett Perry continued a winning streak of his own, while Colt Cotten’s match ended in controversial fashion.

Redshirt-freshman Justin Patrick made his home debut in a tight match against #14 Barlow McGhee. Much of the match was spent with the two tied up and handfighting but Patrick was steadfast in his defense and didn’t make many mistakes. Down 3-2 in the closing seconds Patrick was able to pop his head out and get ahold of only one of McGhee’s legs at the buzzer, meaning no takedown and no upset victory.

Bryan Lantry had a strong match against #12 John Erneste but was caught trying to go for a potential fall. Lantry attempted a cradle off of a takedown but was caught out of position and reversed onto his back and give up too many back points to overcome. Jason Estevez was in a similar situation against #9 Jaydin Eierman. Estevez was only down by a reasonable margin heading into the final minute of the match but was caught out of position and brought to his back and pinned on the edge of the mat.

Colt Cotten’s match was one of the most controversial that I’ve seen in my time covering and watching UB wrestling. Cotten and #4 Lavion Mayes were duking it out and Cotten was being aggressive trying to push the issue and was taken down a few times. The controversy came with less than a minute remaining when Cotten had Mayes tied up and Mayes wound up and punched Cotten in the stomach. Mayes was only assessed a penalty point, much to the chagrin of the UB bench and fanbase. According to NCAA rule 5.6.1 if a wrestler purposefully strikes another at any point that wrestler is disqualified and based on the actions of Mayes, the UB bench believed he should’ve been disqualified - we’ll have a separate post on this later.

Alex Smythe, Austin Weigel, and Muhamed McBryde all dropped their matches at 157, 165, and 174 pounds respectively to give Missouri a commanding 25-0 lead heading into the final three bouts.

Brett Perry earned the first points of the night for UB in an exciting 2-1 decision over Matt Lemanowicz. Perry was down 1-0 heading into the 3rd period and Perry pushed the issue throughout the period and scored the winning takedown with 10 seconds remaining off of a high crotch to a single leg takedown.

Nate Rose continued his dominant winning streak, making the most of Olympic Bronze medalist J’Den Cox’s absence. Rose scored the first takedown of the match within the first 5 seconds and stormed out to a 10-0 lead in the first period racking up 2:48 of riding time. Rose would go on to earn a 16-0 technical fall victory.

Jake Gunning, however, could not follow up Rose’s victory with one of his own as he was beaten 6-1 by Missouri’s Austin Myers.

UB will have just over a week to prepare for their next MAC dual, they’ll be taking a road trip down to Norfolk, Virginia to take on Old Dominion.

125: #14 Barlow McGhee (MIZZ) dec. Justin Patrick (UB), 3-2

133: #12 John Erneste (MIZZ) dec. Bryan Lantry (UB), 8-5

141: #9 Jaydin Eierman (MIZZ) pinned Jason Estevez (UB), 6:12

149: #4 Lavion Mayes (MIZZ) dec. Colt Cotten (UB), 8-5

157: Philip DeLoach (MIZZ) dec. Alex Smythe (UB), 7-4

165: #4 Daniel Lewis (MIZZ) maj. dec. Austin Weigel (UB), 12-0

174: Dylan Wisman (MIZZ) dec. Muhamed McBryde (UB), 8-3

184: Brett Perry (UB) dec. Matt Lemanowicz (MIZZ), 2-1

197: Nate Rose (UB) tech. fall Jayden Bears (MIZZ), 16-0

285: Austin Myers (MIZZ) dec. Jake Gunning (UB), 6-1