NDSU Wrestling Drops Second Straight Match; Loses to Pittsburgh

Bison Lose to Panthers, 22-11

FARGO, N.D.— (NDSU Athletics) No. 18-ranked Pitt won 7 of 10 bouts including 5 of 6 decided by 2 or less points during a 22-11 win over No. 22 North Dakota State in a non-conference dual on Saturday, Jan. 12, before 554 spectators in the Scheels Center.

NDSU (6-5, 2-3 #Big12WR) has next weekend off. The Bison are scheduled to travel to Central Michigan (2-3, 1-1 MAC) on Thursday, Jan. 24, and host Northern Colorado (2-4, 0-3 #Big12WR) in a Big 12 Conference dual at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, in Scheels Center.

North Dakota State jumped out to a 5-0 lead thanks to a 15-0 tech fall in 5:58 from No. 8-ranked 125 Brent Fleetwood (17-3, 9-1). Pitt reeled off the next three wins by a total of five points to take a 9-5 lead.

Then NDSU newcomer at 157 pounds, redshirt sophomore Luke Weber made his Scheels Center debut in dramatic fashion with a 10-4 decision over Pitt’s No. 10 Taleb Rahmani. Weber (5-2, 1-1) jumped out to a 6-1 lead to stun Rahmani and help the Bison cut the lead to 9-8.

North Dakota State No. 21 165 Andrew Fogarty (12-3, 9-2) fought off Jake Wetzel for a 7-5 decision. The Panthers close out the dual with four straight wins.

#18 Pitt 22, #23 North Dakota State 11
SCHEELS CENTER, FARGO, N.D. / Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019
125—#8 Brent Fleetwood (NDSU) tech fall Brendon Felton (Pitt), TF 15-0 5:58
133—#5 Micky Phillip (Pitt) dec #18 Cam Sykora (NDSU), 2-0
141—LJ Bentley (Pitt) dec Sawyer Degen (NDSU), 7-5
149—Robert Lee (Pitt) dec Jaden Van Maanen (NDSU), 3-2
157—Luke Weber (NDSU) dec #10 Taleb Rahmani (Pitt), 10-4
165—#21 Andrew Fogarty (NDSU) dec Jake Wentzel (Pitt), 7-5
174—Gregg Harvey (Pitt) dec Lorenzo De La Riva (NDSU), 7-5
184—#11 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt) dec Michael Otomo (NDSU), 12-5
197—Kellan Stout (Pitt) dec Cordell Eaton (NDSU), 2-0
285—#21 Demetrius (Pitt) major dec Dan Stibral (NDSU), MD 14-5
Dual started at 125 pounds
Attendance—554
Referee—JR Blose