WRESTLING

Roster  |  Coaches  |  Schedule / Results  |  News

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo wrestling team lost the early momentum and never recovered in dropping a 22-9 Mid-American Conference dual meet match to the visiting Kent State Golden Flashes on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Flashes (11-2, 3-0 in the MAC), ranked 24th by Wrestling Mall this week and 25th by W.I.N. Magazine, got several late takedowns to claim close matches. Buffalo fell to 6-3 overall and 0-1 in the MAC with the loss.

Kent State captured victories in four of the first five matches and carried that momentum to the victory. The Golden Flashes got a 9-7 win by Jason Bake over Buffalo's Dave Edwards (Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY/Cornwall) to open the match at 149 pounds. Bake jumped to a 7-3 lead before Edwards began to rally but could not make up the deficit.

Kent's Mike Tolar then broke a 2-2 tie with UB's Labe Black (Ventnor, NJ/Absegami) with a late takedown and two near-fall points to claim a 6-2 win. Buffalo was in the same position in the next match,

Tom Paladino lost a late decision to 14th-ranked Nick Nemeth

as underdog Tom Paladino (Bethpage, NY/Bethpage) had 14th-ranked Nick Nemeth in a 2-2 stalemate with under :15 to go before Nemeth scored a takedown and two near-fall points to grab a 6-2 win and take the life out of Buffalo.

Buffalo rallied to get as close as 12-6 - after a 6-2 win by Gary Cooper (Adams, NY/South Jefferson) and a 7-3 win by sophomore Kyle Cerminara (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) -but Kent State clinched the victory with hard-fought wins at heavyweight and 125 pounds.

At 125 pounds, Kent State's 17th-ranked Jared Opfer barely staved off Buffalo's Mike Sebaaly (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) by a 4-3 score.

Buffalo's other win came at 133 pounds, where junior Mike Trotta (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside) used a riding time point to post a 5-4 win over Drew Opfer.

Cooper, 26-4 on the year, ran his unbeaten streak to 16 straight matches while Cerminara returned from an ankle sprain that kept him out two weeks, to improve to 25-8 on the season.

The match-by-match results:

Wgt. Winner Result Time/Score Loser Tm Score

149 Jason Bake (KSU) D 9-7 Dave Edwards (UB) KSU, 3-0

157 Mike Tolar (KSU) D 5-2 Labe Black (UB) KSU, 6-0

165 Nick Nemeth (KSU) D 6-2 Tom Paladino (UB) KSU, 9-0

174 Gary Cooper (UB) D 6-2 Ken Clark (KSU) KSU, 9-3

184 Alex Camargo (KSU) D 6-2 Garrett Bontempo (UB) KSU, 12-3

197 Kyle Cerminara (UB) D 7-3 Ben Rings (KSU) KSU, 12-6

Hwt Tomas Rodriguez (KSU) D 6-1 Harold Sherrell (UB) KSU, 15-6

125 Jared Opfer (KSU) D 4-3 Mike Sebaaly (UB) KSU, 18-6

133 Mike Trotta (UB) D 5-4 Drew Opfer (UB) KSU, 18-9

141 Ryan Simmons (KSU) MD 10-0 Cliff Smith (UB) KSU, 22-9