Wrestling Falls At #7 Nebraska, 24-9 - Purdue Boilermakers

Jan. 22, 2012

LINCOLN, Neb. - The Purdue wrestling team suffered a 24-9 loss at the hands of seventh-ranked Nebraska on Sunday at the NU Coliseum in the first-ever Big Ten dual between the Boilermakers and Cornhuskers. The Boilermakers were only able to win three of the 10 bouts on the day, falling to 7-8 overall and 2-4 in Big Ten action.

Sunday got underway at 141 pounds between Purdue freshman Nick Lawrence and sixth-ranked Nebraska freshman Jake Sueflohn. Lawrence gave the highly-ranked rookie all he could handle, but came up short in a 4-0 decision to give Nebraska a 3-0 team score lead. No. 15 junior Ivan Lopouchanski answered for the Old Gold and Black at 149 pounds, taking down freshman Skylar Galloway, 6-2, using takedowns in the first and third period to seal the win and even the team score at 3-3.

The Cornhuskers started a run at 157 pounds, winning sixth straight matches to run away with the dual. Ninth-ranked freshman James Green started the run with a 16-7 major decision over Purdue junior Tommy Churchard, followed up by an 11-1 major decision for seventh-ranked freshman Robert Kokesh over Boilermaker sophomore Kyle Mosier at 165. Boilermaker rookie Drake Stein stopped the bonus points, holding 20th-ranked Nebraska junior Tyler Koehn to an 11-4 decision, but No. 7 junior Josh Ihnen opened things back up at 184 with an 11-2 major decision over 18th-ranked Purdue freshman Braden Atwood. Atwood had the first takedown in the bout, but Ihnen took control from there, nearly pinning Atwood in the first.

Things got a little crazy at 197 pounds as Purdue senior A.J. Kissel and Nebraska senior James Nakashima went all the way to a second sudden victory period to decide the match. The match was tied at 1-1 after regulation as Nakashima was awarded an escape on the edge of the match before Kissel could complete the minute of riding-time advantage. Neither scored in the first sudden victory, but points picked up in the tiebreaker as Nakashima and Kissel traded reversals quickly and then Nakashima was awarded a questionable second reversal before the buzzer to make it 5-3. Kissel started down for the second 30 seconds and as he worked to escape Nakashima grabbed his uniform resulting in a penalty point and escape to make it 5-5. Nakashima ended the match in the third overtime period with a takedown to give Nebraska a 21-3 team score lead. The Huskers' run was capped at heavyweight as eighth-ranked senior Tucker Lane used an escape and riding-time point to edge Purdue senior Roger Vukobratovich, 2-0.

The Boilermakers closed the dual strong as sophomores Camden Eppert and Cashé Quiroga notched consecutive decisions at 125 and 133 pounds. Eppert gave up an early takedown to Nebraska sophomore Shawn Nagel, but came back with scoring moves of his own in the second and third periods to earn a 5-2 decision. Quiroga, ranked ninth in the country at 133, put together four takedowns in his victory over 19th-ranked Nebraska junior Ridge Kiley, using a steady dose of offense to keep Kiley at bay and cruise to the win.

The Boilermakers look to bounce back next Sunday at home against 18th-ranked conference opponent Northwestern. The dual will be the final home match for the Boilermaker seniors, set to start at 1 p.m. (ET) and air live at Boilermaker All-Access and BTN.com.

Purdue 9 â€" #7 Nebraska 24

Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012

Nebraska Coliseum â€" Lincoln, Neb.

Quick Results

141: #6 Jake Sueflohn (NEB) def. Nick Lawrence (PUR), D 4-0 (PUR 0 â€" NEB 3)

149: #15 Ivan Lopouchanski (PUR) def. Skylar Galloway (NEB), D 6-2 (PUR 3 â€" NEB 3)

157: #9 James Green (NEB) def. Tommy Churchard (PUR), MD 16-7 (PUR 3 â€" NEB 7)

165: #7 Robert Kokesh (NEB) def. Kyle Mosier (PUR), MD 11-1 (PUR 3 â€" NEB 11)

174: #20 Tyler Koehn (NEB) def. Drake Stein (PUR), D 11-4 (PUR 3 â€" NEB 14)

184: #7 Josh Ihnen (NEB) def. #18 Braden Atwood (PUR), MD 11-2 (PUR 3 â€" NEB 18)

197: James Nakashima (NEB) def. A.J. Kissel (PUR), SV2 7-5 (PUR 3 â€" NEB 21)

285: #8 Tucker Lane (NEB) def. Roger Vukobratovich (PUR), D 2-0 (PUR 3 â€" NEB 24)

125: Camden Eppert (PUR) def. Shawn Nagel (NEB), D 5-2 (PUR 6 â€" NEB 24)

133: #9 Cashé Quiroga (PUR) def. #19 Ridge Kiley (NEB), D 9-5 (PUR 9 â€" NEB 24)