What happened

Wrestling (9-10, 1-4 MAC) notched its first conference victory of the season Friday with a 21-12 win over the Eastern Michigan Eagles (7-9, 0-4 MAC) at the Convocation Center.

How it happened

Coming out of intermission knotted 9-9, the Huskies took the first four matches of the second half by decision en route to a 21-12 win. Highlighting the four victories were redshirt sophomore Trace Engelkes’ 11-10 win by decision and redshirt sophomore Shawn Scott’s 7-5 win by decision in double overtime.

Engelkes recorded a reversal late in the third period to come back and secure the win at 174 pounds. Scott scored an escape and a takedown in the final 30 seconds of the second overtime to pull off the comeback victory at 197 pounds.

Senior Derek Elmore opened the dual by recording his team-leading 12th pin of the season in the 125-pound match with 55 seconds left in the third period. The next four matches ended by decision, and three of them were settled by one point apiece. The Eagles won three of the final four matches while the Huskies had their hand raised once.

Northern Star wrestlers of the dual

Vincent Pizzuto (133), Eastern Michigan redshirt junior, scored the final four points against redshirt freshman Jordan Northrup to win in come-from-behind fashion. Pizzuto, the MAC’s No. 1-ranked wrestler at 133 pounds, trailed 7-4 after two periods but used a four-point third period to take an 8-7 victory.

NIU redshirt sophomore Shawn Scott’s (197) double-overtime win locked up the Huskies’ first conference win of the season. Scott and Anthony Abro were tied 3-3 after regulation and 4-4 after the first overtime session. Trailing 5-4 in double overtime, Scott escaped from Abro’s hold to tie the score and seconds later took down Abro for what proved to be the deciding two points.

The quotes

“Even when we started overtime I just kind of stuck to basics,” Scott said. “I just went back to the basics and didn’t try to do anything too crazy. … That’s what the last 30 seconds was. He knew he had to hit a big move, so I stuck to my basics and countered it and just sealed the deal.”

“I’d say we learned that we are making strides in terms of being tough and exposing our true grit,” said head coach Ryan Ludwig. “That’s what we’re talking about in the practice room right now: talking about winning the tough situations. And the guys that got their hand raised tonight quite simply did that. And the ones that didn’t maybe need to make a little bit better effort. But, we’re making strides every day in the wrestling room.”

Up next

The Huskies wrestle their final road dual of the regular season when they take on the Kent State Golden Flashes 6 p.m. Friday in Kent, Ohio. NIU is 0-4 in true road duals.