Wrestling to a draw through the first four minutes of action at 133 pounds, sophomore Tyler McCormick (Leawood, Kan.) ended the stalemate by escaping Reece Humphrey's hold with 31 seconds left in the second period. Building a lead, McCormick took down Humphrey with 12 seconds left in the period to earn a 3-0 advantage heading into the third. Able to hold on for the victory, McCormick's 3-0 decision gave Missouri a 9-0 lead after Ohio State forfeited the 125-pound bout.
Following his brother's victory with an impressive bout, senior Chris McCormick (Leawood, Kan.) stretched Missouri's lead to 12 by earning a 9-6 decision over T. J. Enright at 141 pounds. After Enright opened the scoring with a takedown at 2:37, McCormick roared back to take the lead by making an escape, a takedown and a three-point nearfall and earn a 6-2 lead heading into the second period. Fighting off a spirited comeback by Enright, McCormick tallied three more escapes before time ran out to record the victory.
After Ohio State earned victories at 149 and 157 pounds, junior Matt Pell (Luxemburg, Wis.) wasted no time establishing a lead at 165 pounds, posting three takedowns in the first period to open a 6-2 lead over Nathaniel Augustson. Ranked No. 4 in the nation, Pell increased his lead in the second period to 11-2, then finished the match with a three-point nearfall and 5:18 of riding time to post a 15-2 major decision.
Wasting no time after Pell's match, junior Ben Askren (Hartland, Wis.) pinned Charlie Clark in just 39 seconds. The career falls record holder at Missouri, Askren's cradle was the 50th pin he's recorded in a Tiger singlet.
Continuing the Tigers streak with one of the most exciting matches of the afternoon, redshirt freshman Raymond Jordan (New Bern, N.C.) fought off a spirited attempt by Blake Maurer to earn an 8-6 decision, stretching the Tigers lead to 25-6. After a takedown by Maurer tied the score midway through the third period, Jordan's escape gave him the advantage and 1:27 of riding time accounted for the final points of the bout.
"We wrestled well today, but there are still some things we can improve on," Head Coach Brian Smith said. "We scored a lot of early points in a couple of matches but allowed our opponents to get back into the bout, which shows that we need to wrestle hard for the full seven minutes. Tyler McCormick had one of the best matches of the day, wrestling to his strengths and beating an opponent that scored seven points against him at the Las Vegas Invitational last week."
The Tigers are back in dual action next week, traveling east to wrestle Pittsburgh and West Virginia Dec. 19-20. Missouri comes back to the Hearnes Center Jan. 6 against Eastern Illinois.
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