No. 17 Braves Fall To No. 2 Newberry In Home Finale
PEMBROKE – Visiting and second-ranked Newberry grabbed wins in each of the first five matches of the night to stake claim to an insurmountable lead, but 17th-ranked UNCP won three of the final five bouts of the night to make things interesting in a 33-9 setback for the Braves.
The Braves (6-5) who had won four of their last five duals coming into Tuesday, fell for the seventh-straight time to the Wolves (16-1) whose only loss this season came via a 23-12 setback to then-No. 3 St. Cloud State. The Black & Gold honored its three-member senior class – Jake Ferguson (174 pounds), Shiheem Bryant (184) and Shane Nolan (197) – prior to the event.
After grabbing forfeit victories at both 125 and 133 pounds to start the evening, Newberry kept adding to its lead with bonus-point victories in two of the next three individual matches as well. B.J. Young, the nation's fourth-ranked wrestler at 141 pounds, registered a first-period pin (2:45) of Daniel Ownbey, while Taylor Knapp posted a 9-1 major decision over K.D. Dixon at 157 pounds.
Despite staring in the face of a 25-0 deficit on the team scoreboard, all-American Mike Williams, the nation's third-ranked wrestler at 165 pounds, dominated sixth-ranked Sean Byrnes en route to a 6-0 decision to put the Braves on the board. The Wolves, however, would push their lead out to 30-3 minutes later thanks to Travis Sheehy's 16-1 technical fall over Jake Ferguson in the 174-pound bout.
Shiheem Bryant picked up his biggest win of the season with a 2-1 overtime win over fifth-ranked Mitchell Brown at 184 pounds, and Nolan (8th nationally at 197 pounds) followed with a 3-2 tiebreak win over 10th-ranked Zach Anderson. A takedown with 25 seconds left would help fifth-ranked Jake Elkins top UNCP's James De La Riva in the heavyweight bout, 3-1.
UNCP will put the lid on its 2011-12 dual meet schedule on Friday when the Braves make the trip to Gaffney, S.C., to do battle with No. 12 Limestone (8-8) inside the Timken Center. Wrestling action is set to get underway at 7 p.m.
#2 Newberry 33, #17 UNCP 9
125: Jonny Cronin (NC) forfeit No Entry (UNCP) For
133: D.J. Jules (NC) forfeit No Entry (UNCP) For
141: No. 4 B.J. Young (NC) pinned Daniel Ownbey (UNCP) F 2:45
149: No. 8 Deral Brown (NC) dec. Kristoff Thomas (UNCP) D 10-4
157: Taylor Knapp (NC) maj. dec. K.D. Dixon (UNCP) M 9-1
165: No. 3 Mike Williams (UNCP) dec. No. 6 Sean Byrnes (NC) D 6-0
174: No. 6 Travis Sheehy (NC) tech. fall Jake Ferguson (UNCP) TF 16-1; 7:00
184: Shiheem Bryant (UNCP) dec. No. 5 Mitchell Brown (NC) OT 2-1
197: No. 8 Shane Nolan (UNCP) dec. No. 10 Zach Anderson (NC) TB 3-2
285: No. 5 Jake Elkins (NC) dec. James De La Riva (UNCP) D 3-1
Starting Weight: 125
Records: Newberry 16-1; UNC Pembroke 6-5
To watch the full match click HERE.
