GREENWOOD, S.C. – The King University men's wrestling team squared off with one of the nation's top teams on Friday night in their regular season finale. The Tornado dropped the dual to second-ranked Lander University, but
Trent Mahoney came away with a pin over the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 165 pounds.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: #2 Lander 39, King 10
LOCATION: Finis Horne Arena; Greenwood, S.C.
RECORDS: King 9-5, 6-3 Conference Carolinas; Lander 15-3, 10-0 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Tornado fell behind early as the Bearcats sent out ranked wrestlers in the first four matches.
- Tyson Upchurch fell to top-ranked James Joplin at 125 pounds before ninth-ranked Elijah Lusk topped Franky Medina at 133 pounds.
- At 141 pounds, Nico Crosnoe fell to ninth-ranked Isham Peace to give Lander a 15-0 lead.
- The Tornado deficit grew to 20-0 as Demetri Teddlie fell to ninth-ranked Zeth Brower at 149 pounds.
- The King deficit grew to 24-0 as Brennan Watkins fell to Jack Tangen at 157 pounds.
- Mahoney got the Tornado on the board in a big way at 165 pounds as he took a first period pin over top-ranked David Hunsberger in 2:32.
- However, the Bearcats came back with a pin at 174 pounds before Clint Morrisette took a 13-4 major decision over Nathan Buckovich at 184 pounds.
- However, the Bearcats took the final two bouts to take the dual 39-10.
UP NEXT
- Both teams will be in action in the inaugural Conference Carolinas Men's Wrestling Championship on Sunday, February 18 at UNC Pembroke.
- The semifinals will take place at 11:00 a.m. as King will be the west second seed and face east No. 1 seed UNC Pembroke.
- Lander will be the west No. 1 seed and face east second seed Newberry College.
- The third-place match will be at 1:00 p.m. with the championship to follow at 3:00 p.m.
