Duke Rides Fast Start to 19-13 Win at Michigan State

Friday, February 20

East Lansing, Mich.

7:00 PM

Duke University

Michigan State

Duke Rides Fast Start to 19-13 Win at Michigan State

2/20/2015 9:41:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Duke wrestling team got off to a hot start with wins in six of the first seven matches and never looked back en route to a 19-13 victory over Big Ten foe Michigan State at Jenison Field House. The win is the second for the Blue Devils over a Big Ten opponent this season.

Duke picks up win No. 11 to improve to 11-6 overall. The victory marks the first time in program history the Blue Devils have beaten two Big Ten teams in a season – they also defeated Maryland earlier in the year. The 11 victories are the most since the 2007-08 team had 12 and mark just the third time Duke has reached that benchmark since the 1990-91 campaign.

The Blue Devils came out wrestling hard and opened up a 13-3 lead on the Spartans after five bouts. Duke led by as many as 16 before the Spartans made a late charge. Michigan State (5-12) won a tight match at 125 with Mitch Rogaliner holding off a third-period charge from Thayer Atkins for a 3-0 Spartan lead.

However, it was all Blue Devils in the next four matches. True freshman Mitch Finesilver, coming off of a big ranked win at Virginia Tech, continued his winning ways with a solid 8-5 win over Garth Yenter. The pair was tied 3-3 after the first period, but it was all Finesilver in the final two periods as he took an 8-4 lead en route to his ninth win of the year.

Evan Botwin was even more impressive at 141, picking up the 13-1 major decision for his 17th win of the year. Botwin, building a 10-0 lead after two periods, was relentless throughout the seven-minute match to give Duke its first lead of the night, 7-3.

Marcus Cain and Immanuel Kerr-Brown added six more points to Duke's team total with decisions at 149 and 157, respectively. Cain upended Nick Trimble 4-1 to earn his 17th win of the year, while Kerr-Brown wrestled a strong match for his 20th victory of the year and 75th of his career.

With Duke holding a 10-point edge over the Spartans heading into the second half of the dual, Brian Dorsey picked up a crucial 2-0 decision over Matt Pasqualani to stretch the Blue Devil lead to 13, 16-3, with just four bouts remaining.

Trey Adamson and Nick Proctor provided the most exciting match of the night that included a pair of reversed calls from the referee, great scrambles and overtime. Adamson, trailing 3-2 late in the third period, got the takedown call from the referee. However, he quickly decided to go to the table for the review and sent the score back to 3-2 in favor of Proctor with 44 seconds remaining.

The Riverton, Utah native went right back to work and scored a takedown, but was unable to hold on as Proctor escaped to send the match into overtime. Adamson wasted little time in the overtime to score a takedown on the edge of the mat for his 13th victory of the year.

Michigan State, trailing by 16, captured the final three matches of the night, but it was not enough to overcome Duke's strong start.

125 – Mitch Rogaliner (MSU) decision Thayer Atkins (Duke), 10-7; Duke 0, MSU 3

133 – Mitch Finesilver (Duke) decision Garth Yenter (MSU), 8-5; Duke 3, MSU 3

141 – Evan Botwin (Duke) decision Javier Gasca (MSU), 13-1; Duke 7, MSU 3

149 – Marcus Cain (Duke) decision Nick Trimble (MSU), 4-1; Duke 10, MSU 3

157 – Immanuel Kerr-Brown (Duke) decision Travis Curley (MSU), 6-2; Duke 13, MSU 3

165 – Brian Dorsey (Duke) decision Matt Pasqualani (MSU), 2-0; Duke 16, MSU 3

174 – Trey Adamson (Duke) decision Nick Proctor (MSU), 6-4 (SV-1); Duke 19, MSU 3

184 – John Rizqallah (MSU) decision Jacob Kasper (Duke), 6-2; Duke 19, MSU 6

197 – Nick McDiarmid (MSU) major decision Spencer Neff (Duke), 12-1; Duke 19, MSU 10

285 – Chris Nash (MSU) decision Brendan Walsh (Duke), 8-2; Duke 19, MSU 13

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