Neither Maktabi or O'Donnell scored in the first period, but Maktabi got on the board with an escape in the second. O'Donnell evened the score with an escape in the third to bring the bout into overtime. The first overtime went scoreless, forcing a double-overtime in which each wrestler started in the down position with 30 seconds on the clock. In the first portion of double overtime, O'Donnell easily escaped to go ahead, 2-1. In the next round of 30 seconds, with the entire crowd on its feet, O'Donnell held down Maktabi to earn the win. It marked O'Donnell's first dual-match victory of his career.
"That was the biggest win of my career," said O'Donnell. "In high school, I got a pin in the last match to win districts, but that doesn't compare to this atmosphere and this rivalry."
"Alan's a great kid who's really committed to doing well," said Minkel. "But he's still a freshman who has had to make a transition from 215 in high school to heavyweight in college. For the whole dual to come down to him, he really kept his wits about it, and did what he needed to do to get the win. I'm really proud of him - that's a lot of pressure for a freshman."
In the first match of the dual at 125 pounds, sixth-ranked Franklin Gomez got out to a 7-1 lead en route to his 11-6 victory over Michael Watts. Watts closed the gap to 7-6 in the third period with a takedown and near-fall points, but Gomez recovered as he escaped and scored another takedown in the closing seconds. Gomez added a point for riding time in the 11-6 win, his team-leading 28th of the season.
The Simmons brothers electrified the Jenison crowd with back-to-back pins at 133 and 141 pounds, respectively. Nick took care of Brandon Elliott in just 1:34 for his 44th career fall, which is now just one away from tying Jim Mason's school record of 45. The top-ranked Simmons (27-0) quickly took Elliott down in the opening seconds of the match, and added near-fall points to go up 5-0 before delivering the pin.
Andy was nearly as quick in recording his 21st career pin, as he disposed of Brad Cusumano with 47 seconds remaining in the first period. Andy, now 8-1 on the season, took the same route in registering his fall - he scored an early takedown, notched near-fall points, then established position for the pin. Simmons left the platform to a roaring crowd after giving the Spartans (2-5, 1-1 Big Ten) a 15-0 team lead.
"I don't ever remember Nick and Andy getting back-to-back first period falls - that was big," said Minkel. "That gave us a huge shot of momentum."
"This feels good, because I've never beat Michigan," said Andy. "I figured if Nick and I could get a couple of falls we would have a good chance for the victory. I was definitely going for the fall the entire time. I really fed off Nick's energy after he got the fall and the crowd was really pumped. It felt good to get a pin in that atmosphere."
Michigan (1-5-1, 0-2 Big Ten) won the next two matches heading into the break. No. 3 Josh Churella controlled Jeff Wimberley at 149 pounds with a 14-1 major decision, and Jeff Marsh held off Tony Greathouse at 157, 7-5.
The Wolverines cut MSU's lead to four points at 15-11 as second-ranked Eric Tannebaum recorded a 13-4 major decision over Rocky Cozart in the 165-pound match.
John Murphy used the perfect opportunity to win his first dual-match of the season, as he picked up a crucial 6-5 victory against Jordan Sherrod at 174 pounds. Murphy went up 2-0 with a takedown in the first, and built a 4-2 lead with another takedown in the second. Sherrod escaped later in the period, and took his only lead of the match at 5-4 with his first takedown. Murphy tied the score at 5 with an escape to begin the third, and with over a minute of riding time in his possession, he held off Sherrod the rest of the period to claim the 6-5 win, giving MSU an 18-11 lead.
In a battle of top-10 wrestlers at 184, fourth-ranked Tyrel Todd of Michigan took care of No. 10 Joe Williams, 9-4. Todd recorded three takedowns, a reversal and riding time in the victory. MSU's lead was trimmed to 18-17 heading into the final match as Casey White beat Nick Palmieri, 6-0, at 197 pounds.
Michigan State returns to action Friday, Feb. 2 to take on Ohio State in Columbus.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now