BOX SCORE

MINOT, N.D. – Despite winning 5 of the 10 matches in their dual against Southwest Minnesota State Friday evening, the Minot State wrestling team came up short in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference dual inside the MSU Dome. The Mustangs took the dual by a final score of 25-15.

"The difference in the meet was they got two pins and a major and we got five decisions," said Minot State head coach Robin Ersland. "Now I'm very happy with five wins out of 10 weights—that a five-five split. The difference is they get the pins."

SMSU quickly got out to a 10-0 lead as Jon Wilson (Sr., 174, Colorado Springs, Colo.) was pinned in the first match of the dual and Kobina Henriques (Sr., 184, Miami, Fla.) lost a major decision in his match.

Taylor Barstad (Fr., 197, Velva, N.D.) got Minot State on the board picking up an 8-5 decision moving the score to 10-3 after three matches. The win was Barstad's second win of the season.

Finding themselves down 19-3 with five matches to go, the Beavers continued to fight their way back into the dual as they won four straight matches. Jason Huger (Fr., 133, Mt. Pleasant, S.C.), Tanner Crissler (Fr., 141, Belcourt, N.D.), Cody Haugen (Fr., 149, Minot, N.D.) and Ricard Avakovs (Jr., 157, Riga, Latvia) each picked up a win by decision to bring the score to 19-15 with one match to go.

In the final match, Devin Combs (Fr., 165, Marianna, Fla.) got out to an early 2-0 lead with a takedown in the first period but a pin in the final period by SMSU's Colton Vekved put an end to the Beavers hopes of a comeback win.

"I thought we wrestled well," Ersland said. "We probably beat some guys we weren't supposed to beat. I thought I heavyweight we had a shot. We didn't quite get the job done but we were in there—we were in the hunt."

The loss moves Minot State's overall record to 5-11 and they fall to 2-4 in the Northern Sun.

The Beavers will be back in action tomorrow night in the MSU Dome when Augustana College comes to town for the second of three straight home duals for Minot State. Tomorrow's dual is set to begin at 7 p.m.

SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE 25, MINOT STATE 15
125 – Landyn VanOverbeke, SMSU, pinned Anthony Battle, 1:04 (3-19)
133 – Jason Huger, MINOT, def. Taylor Curtis, 10-5 (6-19)
141 – Tanner Crissler, MINOT, def. Cody Reed, 3-1 (9-19)
149 – Cody Haugen, MINOT, def. Jake Slocum, 3-2 (12-19)
157 – Ricards Avakovs, MINOT, def. Patrick Kelley, 7-4 (15-19)
165 – Colton Vekved, SMSU, pinned Devin Combs, 6:10 (15-25)
174 – Jacob Begin, SMSU, pinned Jon Wilson, 5:56 (0-6) *
184 – Broderick Goens, SMSU, won by major decision, over Kobina Henriques, 12-0 (0-10)
197 – Taylor Barstad, MINOT, def. Tristan Ezell, 8-5 (3-10)
HWT – Cole Wilson, SMSU, def. Mitchell Eull, 3-2 (3-13)
* Match started at 174 pounds