QUICK HITS

• Cleveland State dropped a 19-13 matchup to Ohio in MAC action
• Redshirt senior Evan Cheek beat a top-20 foe by seven points
• Redshirt senior Justin Patrick won via major decision
• Logan Heil and Riley Smucker also added wins for the Vikings
• CSU lost bouts by a single point at both 174 and 184 pounds
• If CSU had won either of those bouts, it would have won the dual
• Patrick's win was his first conference victory of the season
• Cheek posted his team-leading 27th win

MATCH RECAP

The Cleveland State University wrestling team came close to pulling off an upset of visiting Ohio, but the Bobcats escaped with a 19-13 victory in Mid-American Conference action Saturday afternoon inside Woodling Gymnasium.

All five of CSU's losses via decision came by three points or fewer, including two bouts where the Vikings came up just one point short. If Cleveland State had turned the tables in either of those one-point bouts, it would have won the dual on tiebreaking criteria.

After CSU dropped the opening two bouts at 149 and 157, redshirt freshman Riley Smucker got the hosts on the board with a comfortable win at 165 pounds. He took a 4-1 lead after two periods, after tallying two near-fall points in the second stanza, and went on to claim a 6-1 win after earning over two minutes of riding time.

The Vikings would then drop the 174-pound bout, in which they led in the third period, and the 184-pound bout by a single point each.

Ohio would effectively put the dual to rest by claiming three-point wins at both 197 and 285 pounds.

Cleveland State produced a comeback of sorts by winning each of the final three bouts, but it proved to be not enough.

True freshman Logan Heil tallied a takedown with fewer than 15 seconds remaining in the 125-pound bout to break a tie and claim a 3-1 victory. The win was a turnaround of sorts as Heil had lost to the same foe by two points in November.

Redshirt senior Justin Patrick scored early and often en route to an 18-6 major decision win. He used five takedowns, a reversal, four near-fall points, a riding time point and a point for his opponent stalling to easily cruise to the win.

The most anticipated bout of the dual was saved for last as redshirt senior Evan Cheek was matched up with Ohio's Shakur Laney in a battle of top-20 foes. Cheek would get revenge, in convincing fashion no less, from an overtime loss to Laney at the Navy Classic earlier this season. After a scoreless first period, Cheek used an escape, a takedown and four near-fall points to open up a 7-0 lead after five minutes. He added a takedown and an escape in the third and went on to post a 10-3 victory.

Cheek improved his team-leading mark to 27-3 this season and remained unbeaten in dual action.

Heil improved to 3-1 in the MAC this season while Patrick notched his first league win of the campaign.

Cleveland State will open a three-match road trip next weekend by heading to SIUE and nationally ranked Missouri.

Ohio 19, Cleveland State 13
149: Alec Hagan (OU) over Gus Sutton (CSU) - 8-0 MD | OU leads, 4-0
157: Zac Carson (OU) over Nico O'Dor (CSU) - 5-2 dec. | OU leads, 7-0
165: Riley Smucker (CSU) over Nick Vestal (OU) - 6-1 dec. | OU leads, 7-3
174: Logan Stanley (OU) over Chase Archangelo (CSU) - 4-3 dec. | OU leads, 10-3
184: Hunter Yeargan (OU) over DeAndre Nassar (CSU) - 5-4 dec. | OU leads, 13-3
197: Jake Walker (OU) over Ben Smith (CSU) - 11-8 dec. | OU leads, 16-3
285: Jordan Earnest (OU) over Collin Kelly (CSU) - 3-0 dec. | OU leads, 19-3
125: Logan Heil (CSU) over Giovanni DiSabato (OU) - 3-1 dec. | OU leads, 19-6
133: Justin Patrick (CSU) over Trevor Giallombardo vs. - 18-6 MD | OU leads, 19-10
141: Evan Cheek (CSU) over Shakur Laney (OU) - 10-3 dec. | OU wins, 19-13