Buffalo Bulls Wrestling vs. Binghamton Bearcats recap: Bulls earn 9th Dual Meet Victory

In a season of firsts and after being a thorn in the side of Coach Stutzman for so long the UB Wrestling team earned a 24-12 win over the Bearcats in Alumni Arena today.

The Bulls started out hot as Kyle Akins pinned Binghamton's Steve Bulzomi in a rematch of their semifinal bout at the NYS Collegiate Championships where Akins won by a narrow 4-3 margin. Bryan Lantry continued the hot streak from the Bulls, earning 4 takedowns en route to a 9-3 decision over Jake Nicholson. Nicholson had previously beaten Lantry 14-1 at the NYS Collegiate Championships and Lantry wrestled an excellent match to avenge the loss.

Brandon Lapi earned a hard fought 2-0 decision over Dylan Caruana utilizing a second period escape and a 3rd period rideout to earn his 13th victory of the season. Colt Cotten did what Colt does and he pinned Binghamton's Jesse Dellavecchia in the 1st period to give UB a commaning 18-0 lead heading into the back half of the lineup. Vince DePrez would get the Bearcats on the board at 157 pounds earning a hard fought 9-5 decision over Alex Smythe in his return to dual meet action after suffering a broken jaw in the offseason.

In a bit of a lineup change, Rrok Ndokaj remained at 165 pounds while Tyler Rill bumped up to 174 pounds to take the place of Muhamed McBryde. Ndokaj and Rill faced the Anthony DePrez and Jack McKeever respectively, both losing hard fought battles that came down to the closing seconds. Joe Ariola was unable to get a late takedown to tie the match with #20 Steve Schneider, cutting UB's lead to just 18-12 heading into the final 2 matches of the day.

James Benjamin was the hero of the day once again, earning a 4-0 decision over Mark Tracy at 197 pounds to seal the win for the Bulls. Benjamin was in total control the entire match and racked up well over 2 minutes of riding time to clinch UB's 9th dual meet win of the season, the first time the Bulls have reached 9 wins since the 2010-2011 season. To put the cherry on top, Jake Gunning defeated Connor Calkins 5-3.

This looked like an energized team ready to wrestle; a night and day difference from the CMU match. UB will take to the mat once again on Sunday against Northern Illinois.

Full Results - Buffalo 24, Binghamton 12

125: Kyle Akins (Buffalo) pinned Steve Bulzomi (BING)

133: Bryan Lantry (Buffalo) dec. Jake Nicholson (BING), 9-3

141: Brandon Lapi (Buffalo) dec. Dylan Caruana (BING), 2-0

149: Colt Cotten (Buffalo) pinned Jesse Dellavecchia (BING)

157: Vince DePrez (BING) dec. Alex Smythe (Buffalo), 9-5

165: Anthony DePrez (BING) dec. Rrok Ndokaj (Buffalo), 8-6

174: #29 Jack McKeever (BING) dec. Tyler Rill (Buffalo), 5-3

184: #20 Steve Schneider (BING) dec. Joe Ariola (Buffalo), 4-2

197: James Benjamin (Buffalo) dec. Mark Tracy (BING), 4-0

285: Jake Gunning (Buffalo) dec. Connor Calkins (BING), 5-3