IU, Wisconsin trade lead changes in Hoosier home loss

In a contest that had more back-and-forth lead changes than a game of Pong, Wisconsin finally emerged the victor despite the vocal efforts of the Bloomington crowd.\nSunday's match between IU and Wisconsin was truly a demonstration of how tough the Big Ten wrestling schedule is. Both teams came in ranked in the top twenty in country, despite Wisconsin being winless in their last four. Four of the ten matches featured ranked grapplers on both sides, and there were eleven ranked wrestlers total not including the Hoosiers senior heavyweight Pat DeGain, who sat out with a shoulder injury. \nOnce again IU started out with the upper hand. Junior Joe Dubuque, seemingly unstoppable so far this season with a 16-match win streak and 19-1 record on the season, earned the Hoosiers the early four point lead with a 11-3 major decision over Wisconsin's Colin Cudd.\n"I think we wrestled pretty well," Dubuque said. "If we would have had Pat in there we would have had a better day." \nThe Badgers retook the momentum when their sixth-ranked 133-pounder Tom Clum scored a major decision of this own over Brian Dyer, tying the score at four.\nSenior Mike Simpson, still wrestling with a heavily bandaged head, got the crowd back into the match. The 141-pounder started the contest a bit sluggishly, but rebounded in the third period to tie the match at four. With the crowd on its feet, Simpson got a takedown with three ticks on the clock to get the Hoosiers the first of three last-second wins. \nWith the Hoosiers up three, Wisconsin got a five-point boost from 16th-ranked Craig Henning's 17-0 technical fall of sophomore Isaac Knable.\nAgain IU rallied, this time behind redshirt freshman Brandon Becker. Becker unleashed a three-point near-fall late in the third to upset 10th-ranked Tyler Turner, giving the Hoosiers the lead back.\nAfter a Max Dean loss, junior Brady Richardson made a third-period comeback with five takedowns, the last coming with 30 seconds to go to once again put IU up by one at 13-12. Wisconsin finally snatched the lead for good with a pair of decisions over Rios and Josh Buuck. Down 18-13 and needing a fall, redshirt freshman David Herman breathed some hope back into Hoosier fans. Wrestling in place of DeGain, he put Lee Kramer on his back twice but couldn't get the pin, settling instead for an 8-3 decision and his first career Big Ten dual victory.\n"Pat's our team captain, and when he's not on the mat it makes it hard to win," coach Duane Goldman said. "But Herman really stepped it up in his first Big Ten match." \nWith the loss, the Hoosiers drop to 2-2 in the Big Ten. They will face Michigan State next Saturday in Bloomington. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Andrew Petersen at andpeter@indiana.edu.