Wrestling Falls at The Citadel

Sunday, February 14

Charleston, S.C.

2:00 p.m.

Duke University

Citadel

Wrestling Falls at The Citadel

2/14/2010 6:00:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

CHARLESTON, S.C.-The Duke University wrestling team rallied back from a 23-9 deficit, but came up just short in a 23-19 setback to The Citadel this afternoon at McAlister Field House.

Duke (2-8) captured four of the final five matches of the afternoon, but could not overcome the early 20-3 lead The Citadel built.

The Bulldogs (8-5) started off with a 6-0 lead with a fall at 125 pounds and captured a decision at 133 pounds to make it 9-0. Duke junior Mike Bell garnered the Blue Devils' first points of the day as he edged Nick LaFevre 5-3 in the 141-pound division. The win is Bell's 11th of the season and pushes his dual match record to 3-5.

After The Citadel added 11 more points to its total with a technical fall and a pin at 149 and 157 pounds, respectively, Duke senior Ben Wales posted a fall of his own to make it a 20-9 match. Duke had to have to wrestlers move up a couple weight classes due to injuries in those classifications.

Wales, who returned from injury on Feb. 12, controlled his match against Cameron Childs and was able to pin his Bulldog opponent with 11 seconds remaining in the second period.

Duke senior Voris Tejada was edged by J.C. Oddo, 5-2, at 174 pounds and gave The Citadel a 23-9 lead with three matches left.

It was all Blue Devils down the stretch as redshirt freshman Diego Bencomo came away with a solid 9-4 decision at 184 pounds. Redshirt senior John Barone stepped up in a big way, registering a major decision with a 14-0 blanking of Justin Sparrow in the 197-pound class.

Closing out the competition was redshirt senior heavyweight Konrad Dudziak with a 10-3 decision with two takedowns, a near fall and a reversal against Odie Delaney. However, the late push was not enough as the final score ended in favor of the Bulldogs 23-19.

Duke closes out its regular season schedule on Feb. 19 against Gardner-Webb in Cameron Indoor Stadium at 6:30 p.m.

The Citadel 23, Duke 19

125: Richard Alarcon (CIT) pinned Pete Terrezza (DUKE), 6:37; CIT 6-0

133: Jordan Dix (CIT) dec. Nick Adamo (DUKE), 7-3; CIT 9-0

141: Mike Bell (DUKE) dec. Nick LaFevre (CIT), 5-3; CIT 9-3

149: Derek Royster (CIT) tech. fall Chris Mullen (DUKE), 17-2; CIT 14-3

157: Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (CIT) pinned Spencer Jasper (DUKE), 3:33; CIT 20-3

165: Ben Wales (DUKE) pinned Cameron Childs (CIT), 4:47; CIT 20-9

174: J.C. Oddo (CIT) dec. Voris Tejada (DUKE), 5-2; CIT 23-9

184: Diego Bencomo (DUKE) dec. Kelby Smith (CIT), 9-4; CIT 23-12

197: John Barone (DUKE) maj. dec. Justin Sparrow (CIT), 14-0; CIT 23-16

HWT: Konrad Dudziak (DUKE) dec. Odie Delaney (CIT), 10-3; CIT 23-19