Lehigh Claims 23-11 Win Over CMU

MOUNT PLEASANT – No. 14 Lehigh won a pair of pivotal overtime matches to pull away from No. 21 Central Michigan, 23-11, in nonconference wrestling action at McGuirk Arena on Friday.

Five of the dual meet’s 10 bouts were decided by two points or less, including the two overtime affairs that swung six key team points in Lehigh’s favor.

“I felt like we were in a lot of situations where, if we would have taken advantage of them, the dual meet would have been a lot closer and we would feel a little better about ourselves,” said CMU head coach Tom Borrelli. “There are a lot of things we need to work on, and that’s why we wrestle the teams that we do. It takes a pretty good team to beat us, but we’re used to winning some of those matches, so it’s a little disappointing.”

The Chippewas (12-4 overall) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead when Joe Roth scored a 24-9 technical fall over Alex Abreu at 125 pounds. Roth reversed Abreu to his back in the match’s final 10 seconds and collected the riding time point to secure the technical fall.

In his last three matches, Roth has scored 24 takedowns while allowing just one and out-scoring his three opponents by a combined score of 58-23.

The 133-pound bout between Lehigh’s Mason Beckman and CMU’s Zach Horan was tied 1-1 at the end of regulation and through the first sudden victory period. Beckman rode out Horan in the first 30-second tiebreaker, then escaped in the second 30-second period to claim a 2-1 decision.

Lehigh (9-4 overall) took its first lead of the dual when No. 15 Steve Dutton posted a 17-2 technical fall over CMU’s Scott Mattingly at 141 pounds. The Mountain Hawks’ lead stretched to 11-5 when Kyle Rosser defeated Joey Kielbasa, 5-2, in the 149-pound bout.

Back-to-back one-point decisions by CMU’s Donnie Corby and Mike Ottinger at 157 and 165 pounds, respectively, evened the team score at 11-11. Corby needed just a second-period escape and riding time to earn a 2-1 victory over Brian Tanen, while Ottinger scored the only takedown of the bout with less than a minute remaining to defeat Sean Bilodeau, 3-2.

Ottinger’s victory would be the last of the night for CMU, however, as Lehigh claimed decisions in each of the final four bouts.

The most anticipated bout of the night came at 184 pounds, where Lehigh’s Robert Hamlin, ranked No. 4 nationally and the 2011 national runner-up, edged CMU’s Ben Bennett, ranked No. 5, 3-1 in sudden victory. Neither individual scored an offensive point in regulation despite plenty of early action; a second-period escape by Bennett and third-period escape by Hamlin sent the match to overtime tied at 1-1. In the sudden victory period, Bennett defended a pair of shots before Hamlin scored the decisive takedown off a scramble as the final buzzer sounded.

The heavyweight bout also featured a pair of nationally ranked competitors, as Lehigh’s No. 3 Zach Rey, the defending national champion, defeated CMU’s No. 12 Peter Sturgeon, 5-3. Rey scored on single-leg takedowns in the first and second periods while holding Sturgeon to three escape points in the match.

The Chippewas are back in action Sunday, visiting No. 16 Kent State at 2 p.m. CMU can clinch the outright Mid-American Conference regular season title with a win.

No. 14 Lehigh 23, No. 21 Central Michigan 11

125: No. 16 Joe Roth (CMU) tech. fall Alex Abreu, 24-9 at 7:00; CMU 5-0

133: Mason Beckman (LU) dec. Zach Horan, 2-1 TB1; CMU 5-3

141: No. 15 Steve Dutton (LU) tech. fall Scott Mattingly, 17-2 at 7:00; Lehigh 8-5

149: Kyle Rosser (LU) dec. Joey Kielbasa, 5-2; Lehigh 11-5

157: Donnie Corby (CMU) dec. Brian Tanen, 2-1; Lehigh 11-8

165: Mike Ottinger (CMU) dec. Sean Bilodeau, 3-2; Tied 11-11

174: Nate Brown (LU) dec. Anthony Bill, 4-0; Lehigh 14-11

184: No. 4 Robert Hamlin (LU) dec. No. 5 Ben Bennett, 3-1 SV1; Lehigh 17-11

197: Kadeem Samuels (LU) dec. Chad Friend, 10-4; Lehigh 20-11

285: No. 3 Zach Rey (LU) dec. No. 12 Peter Sturgeon, 5-3; Lehigh 23-11