Huskers Fall to Cyclones, 22-9

Ames, Iowa -- The second-ranked Nebraska wrestling team dropped its third dual of the season as Jason Powell, Travis Shufelt and B.J. Padden scored the only wins in a 22-9 loss to the Cyclones Thursday night at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. With the loss, NU fell to 19-3 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 action.

The loss by NU left them one dual win short of recording 20 dual victories for only the second time in school history. Despite the loss, the 19 duals wins is the second most in school history.

At 157 pounds, 11th-ranked B.J. Wright (Elberta, Utah) faced off against 12th-ranked Travis Paulson in the first of eight matches featuring ranked wrestlers. Wright got on the board first with a takedown at the 2:24 mark before Paulson countered with a reversal to tie the match up at two. Paulson, then took the lead on an escape at the 1:45 mark before extended his lead to three with a takedown with 1:14 remaining in the second period.

Up by three in the third period, Wright cut into the Paulson lead with an escape at the 1:58 mark. Wright was then able to get in on a double leg takedown to tie the match up at five. Paulson regained the lead with an escape at the one minute mark. Trailing by one, Paulson was able to withstand a last second takedown attempt by Wright to take the match, 7-5. Paulson earned the bonus point because he had over two minutes of riding time.

Following the Wright loss, 17th-ranked Jacob Klein (Valley Center, Kan.) took on eighth-ranked Nick Passolano. With sixteen seconds remaining in the first period, Klein took a 2-0 lead with a takedown. Following a technical violation on Klein because of lock hands, was given a point to cut the lead to one. After the violation, Passolano tied the match at two with an escape before taking the lead with an escape at the end of the second period. Trailing by one, Klein tied the match at three before Passolano regained the lead with a takedown. Down by two, Klein recorded another escape with 56 seconds left to cut the lead to one. Klein then sent the match into overtime because of the 1:14 he had in riding time. In overtime Passolano scored the first offensive points to give him a 7-5 lead extend the Iowa State lead to 6-0.

In the only match on the night featuring non-ranked wrestlers, James Pummel (Spearfish, S.D.) and Grant Turner wrestled to a scoreless first period. At the beginning of the second period Pummel took a 1-0 with an escape. After neither wrestler was able to muster any offensive points, Pummel took a 1-0 into the third period. With 1:44 remaining Turner was able to record a reversal to give him a 2-1 lead. With one minute remaining, Pummel tied the match a two before Turner scored a takedown with forty second left to give him a 4-2 lead. With ten seconds left Pummel cut the lead to one but it wasn’t enough as Turner took the match, 4-3.

With Iowa State leading 9-0, third-ranked Travis Pascoe (Rathdrum, Idaho) looked to rebound from his second loss of the season against 14th-ranked Kurt Backes. Backes jumped out to a 7-3 before Pascoe cut the lead to one at 12-11 with 54 seconds left in the third period. After an injury timeout by Backes and riding time a factor, Backes was able to record two takedowns to give Iowa State their fourth straight win, as he defeated Pascoe, 17-12.

Sophomore B.J. Padden (Buffalo Country, S.D.) stopped the Cyclones four-match win streak with a 13-7 win over 20th-ranked Trevor Smith. Leading by eight and assured of bonus points, Smith scored a late takedown to give Padden the sixpoint win. With the win, Padden assured himself of the top-seed in the 197-pound weight class at the Big 12 Championships.

After the Padden win, eighth-ranked Nathan McClain (Flora Vista, N.M.) faced off against 20th-ranked Scott Coleman. McClain got onto the board with first with a takedown before Coleman scored a reversal. After the Coleman reversal, McClain regained the lead with an escape to take a one point lead. Coleman tied the match at three with an escape at the 1:36 mark.

Coleman took the lead for the first time with a takedown before McClain cut the lead to one with an escape. Heading into the final period trailing by one, McClain regained the lead with a reversal at the 1:30 mark. Coleman then tied the match at six with forty seconds left. With riding time a nonfactor the match headed into overtime tied at six. In overtime, Coleman scored a takedown with thirty seconds left to give ISU the match, 8-6.

At 125 pounds, top-ranked Jason Powell (Midwest City, Okla.) fell behind 2-0 before recording a reversal at the 2:14 mark in the first period. Grant Nakamura responded with an escape to give him a 3-2 lead before Powell tied the match at three with an escape. Powell took lead for the first time with a takedown with 1:21 remaining in the period to give him a 5-3 lead.

Leading by two, Nakamura scored an escape at the 1:16 mark to cut into the Powell lead. With under a minute remaining Powell extended his lead to three with a takedown at 7-4. Powell followed the takedown with a two-point near fall to raise his lead to 9-4. With almost three minutes of riding time, Jason Powell defeated Nakamura, 10-4 to bring NU back within nine at 15-6. The win by Powell assured him of the No. 1 seed at the Big 12 Championships.

At 133 pounds redshirt-freshman Matt Keller (McDonald, Tenn.) trailed third-ranked Zach Roberson, 3-1 after the first period before cutting the lead to one with an escape. After the Keller escape Roberson extended his lead to three with a takedown at the 1:17 mark. After another Keller escape, Roberson recorded a takedown followed by a three-point near to extend his lead to 10-3. In the third period, Roberson proved to be too much as he took the match, 22-9 and the Cyclones took the dual.

Following the Keller loss, Matt Murray ( Colby, Kan.) suffered his first Big 12 loss of the season as he fell to second-ranked Nate Gallick, 6-2.

The last match of the night saw fourth-ranked Travis Shufelt (Oconto, Wis.) face-off against sixth-ranked Trent Paulson. Paulson jumped out to an early lead with a takedown and a three-point near fall. After a Shufelt escape, Shufelt cut into the Paulson lead with a takedown with 30 seconds left in the first period. Trailing by two, Shufelt got back within one with a escape at the 1:27 mark. Shufelt, then took the lead for the first time with 55 seconds remaining in the second stanza at 6-5.

Leading by one heading into the final period., Paulson tied the match at six with an escape. As time expired in the third period, Shufelt scored a last second takedown to take the match, 8-6 over Paulson. With the win, Shufelt raised his record to 24-3 overall and 18-3 in duals.

The Huskers return to action next Saturday, March 6 as they return to Ames, Iowa, for the 2004 Big 12 Championships at the Hilton Coliseum with the pigtail matches beginning at 11 a.m.

#3 Iowa State 22, #2 Nebraska 9
157 #12 Travis Paulson (ISU) dec. #11 B.J. Wright (NU), 7-5 ISU 3, NU 0
164 #8 Nick Passolano (ISU) dec. #17 Jacob Klein (NU), 7-5 ot ISU 6, NU 0
174 Grant Turner (ISU) dec. James Pummel (NU), 4-3 ISU 9, NU 0
184 #14 Kurt Backes (SU) dec. #3 TravisPascoe (NU), 17-12 ISU 12, NU 0
197 #2 B.J. Padden (NU) dec. #20 Trevor Smith (ISU), 13-7 ISU 12, NU 3
HWT #20 ScottColeman (ISU) dec. #8 Nathan McClain (NU), 8-6 ot ISU 15, NU 3
125 #1 Jason Powell (NU) dec. Grant Nakamura (NU), 10-4 ISU 15, NU 6
133 #3 Zack Roberson (ISU) by maj. dec. over #9 Matt Keller (NU), 22-9 NU 19, NU 6
141 #2 Nate Gallick (ISU) dec. #11 Matt Murray (NU), 6-2 ISU 22, NU 6
149 #4 Travis Shufelt (NU) dec. #6 Trent Paulson (ISU), 8-6 ISU 22, NU 9