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Buffalo Records Fifth Straight Win, Defeats UNC-Greensboro 22-14

Jason Hilliard

After the Spartans (2-1) grabbed the initial lead 4-0, Buffalo (7-2) rebounded to find a familiar position at 133 pounds with nationally 12th-ranked Mark Budd landing a massive 20-4 technical fall over Mitchell Johnson. Despite the effort at 141 pounds, redshirt freshman Andrew Stella (Tonawanda, NY/Sweet Home) was overmatched by his adversary, as the Spartans’ Chris Bencivenga secured 23 points to counteract Stella’s 11, landing the major decision.

Buffalo retained the lead once again following another lopsided technical fall. Jason Hilliard shut out Marcus Hannah by a count of 18-0, earning his 15th win of the season. Freshman Justin Hunt (Salem, NY/Salem) and junior Mike Ragusa (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) each hammered home decisions to make the score 16-8 heading into the 174-lb. bout. Junior Nate Rock (Ephrata, PA/Ephrata) and senior Ray Lamb (Vineland, NJ/Absegami) each saw overtimes sessions in their respective bouts, with Lamb managing to pick up the decision over Scott Snyder, 3-1, making it more difficult for the Spartans to seize its third straight win of the season.

Mark Budd

Redshirt freshman Ricky Scott (Walden, NY/Valley Central) snagged his 18th win of the season at the hands of Nick Clark, 4-2. Scott is second on the team in wins, and has won six of his last seven matches. Junior Jeff Parker (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) was unable to win his 17th match of the season, as he fell to Joe Sheffield, 3-1.

The Bulls claimed their third straight victory against a team from the Southern Conference, winning decisively against Davidson on Jan. 4 by a score of 33-6, and most recently handed Appalachian State a 25-16 defeat.

Buffalo returns home to Alumni Arena on Sunday, as the team welcomes its first Mid-American Conference opponent of the season in Northern Illinois. The Huskies are 0-2 following two defeats at the hands of Northwestern and Wisconsin, and feature four nationally-ranked wrestlers. The meet is scheduled for 12 p.m.

Buffalo 22, UNCG 14
Greensboro, NC – Jan. 10, 2007

125 – Jeff Hedges (UNCG) maj. dec. Dan Bishop (Buffalo), 13-5
133 – Mark Budd (Buffalo) tech. fall Mitchell Johnson (UNCG), 20-4
141 – Chris Bencivenga (UNCG) maj. dec. Andrew Stella (Buffalo), 23-11
149 – Jason Hilliard (Buffalo) tech. fall Marcus Hannah (UNCG), 18-0
157 – Justin Hunt (Buffalo) dec. Nate Berryman (UNCG), 6-2
165 – Mike Ragusa (Buffalo) dec. Mark Ring (UNCG), 5-2
174 – Joe Lowe (UNCG) dec. Nate Rock (Buffalo), 6-4 (OT)
184 – Ray Lamb (Buffalo) dec. Scott Snyder (UNCG), 3-1 (OT)
197 – Ricky Scott (Buffalo) dec. Nick Clark (UNCG), 4-2
285 – Joe Sheffield (UNCG) dec. Jeff Parker (Buffalo), 3-1