Tiger wrestling outlasts Kent State, improves to 6-3

Missouri freshman Alan Waters upset Kent State’s Nic Bendelyon at the 125-pound weight class.

By Zach Miller

Published Dec. 7, 2010

The No. 11 Missouri wrestling team beat Kent State 19-15 Sunday afternoon, with No. 5 junior heavyweight Dom Bradley winning a 5-3 overtime decision to give Missouri the victory.

The match began at 125 pounds when No. 11 freshman Alan Waters upset No. 5 Nic Bedelyon 3-1. Both wrestlers came into the match undefeated on the season.

Each wrestler scored one escape in the match, and the difference was a two-point near fall by Waters in the second period.

“I knew I could ride him on top, so that made me a lot happier to get the back points," Waters said. "It pretty much sealed the deal there.”

Waters, a true freshman, has not lost a match since his junior year of high school.

“He’s had a lot of big wins, and I’m just pleased with the way he’s wrestling,” Missouri coach Brian Smith said. “He keeps battling and battling, he’s tough on top, he’s tough on his feet and he’s tough to score on, he does a good job.”

Following Waters’ victory, the Tigers dropped three of the next four matches and trailed Kent State 9-7 at the halfway point of the match. Senior Todd Schavrien was the only winner, with a 12-0 major decision at 141 pounds.

Missouri bounced back with three straight close victories to take a 16-9 lead. Freshman No. 12 Zach Toal overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat No. 24 Ross Tice 7-4 at 165 pounds. Junior No. 15 Dorian Henderson followed Toal with a 5-4 decision at 174 pounds, with a riding time bonus point marking the difference in the match.

Sophomore Mike Larson won his 10th match of the season with a 4-3 decision at 184 pounds. Larson recorded a takedown in the final minute of that match, and kept his opponent down to pull out the tight victory.

“I think (Larson) wrestled a slow pace in the beginning there, and Mike likes to wrestle a hard pace, but he let the guy slow him down a little,” Smith said. “When he started attacking, he got to a leg and got the takedown.”

Larson understood how big the win was for Missouri, with No. 1 Dustin Kilgore lurking at 197 pounds for Kent State.

“We needed that win to be able to set it up to have Dom win the dual for us,” Larson said.

Kilgore beat Missouri 197-pounder Jake Glore by fall to make the score 16-15 and set up a do-or-die heavyweight matchup between Bradley and No. 12 Brendan Barlow of Kent State.

Bradley scored a takedown with two seconds left in a one-minute sudden death overtime period to win.

Bradley had led 3-1 after two periods before Barlow had an escape in the third period to pull within one point. Barlow got that point in the final seconds when the referee awarded him a point because Bradley jumped out of bounds to avoid a takedown that would have ended the match.

“You don’t want to put it in a referee’s hands to let him make a call like that, but he did, and he kept his composure to get a takedown in overtime,” Smith said.

Missouri is now 6-3 on the season and continues dual play Sunday at No. 23 Purdue.