DeKALB | They say the good teams are able to win even when they don’t have their best stuff.

That was the case Friday night, as the NIU wrestling team hung on for a hard-fought 18-13 victory over MAC rival Ohio.

It looked very bleak in the beginning, as the Bobcats jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after two matches.

Mike Grimes was able to stop the Huskies’ bleeding: The senior posted a 12-7 win over Clay Tucker in the 149-pound match.

NIU went on to win the next four matches, highlighted by a 3-2 victory from Kalen Knull and textbook-style wins from the Burk brothers, Danny and Duke.

“I can’t say enough about Danny and Duke,” said head coach Dave Grant. “The way we want our guys to wrestle is the way the Burk brothers came out and wrestled tonight.”

In arguably the best match of the night, NIU’s Johnny Galloway faced Ohio’s 22-7 Jacob Ison. With the match tied at one heading into the third period, Galloway was able to maneuver his way for two takedowns to secure a 5-2 win.

“He was controlling my arms and kept on tying me up,” Galloway said. “I had to get loose and get the angle so I could get behind him and pick up my points.”

Ohio closed the gap to 15-13 by picking up wins in the 197-pound and heavyweight matches.

However, nationally ranked Pat Castillo sealed the deal for the Huskies in the final match of the night by defeating the Bobcats’ Seth Morton 8-6 in the 125-pound match.

“It was a big win for us tonight,” Grant said. “But we’ll have to kick it up a notch next week at Kent State.”

Brandon Mangia is the NIU wrestling beat reporter for the Northern Star.