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BINGHAMTON, NY - The University at Buffalo improved to 2-0 on the young dual meet season with a convincing 34-7 win at SUNY rival Binghamton on Sunday afternoon.

The Bulls won eight of the ten bouts with junior Mike Trotta (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside) and Tom Paladino (Bethpage, NY/Bethpage) both scoring pins in the victory.

Tom Paladino

Buffalo started strongly with freshman Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville) scoring a major decision, 9-0, over Kyle Willard at 125 pounds. Trotta then pinned Mike Shannon at the 1:30 mark to get Buffalo out to an early 10-0 lead.

After the Bearcats bounced back by winning at 141 and 157 pounds to cut Buffalo's lead to 14-7, the Bulls dominated the final five bouts starting with a pin by Paladino at the 3:31 mark over Binghamton's Ryan Jantzen at 165 pounds.

Buffalo closed the match in style as Gary Cooper (Adams, NY/South Jefferson) and junior co-captain Garrett Bontempo (DuBois, PA/DuBois) each posted major decisions before Kyle Cerminara (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) and Tom Curl (Gibbstown, NJ/Paulsboro) also posted solid wins.

Cooper defeated Jeff McAveney, 16-7, while Bontempo beat Jeff Vitale, 16-5, to give Buffalo an insurmountable 28-7 lead. Cerminara joined Cooper and Bontempo as unbeatens in dual meet matches so far this year, with a 15-8 win.

Garrett Bontempo

Curl earned the first dual meet win of his career with a workmanlike 5-2 win over Jon Gregg. The other winner for Buffalo was senior co-captain Ryan Bentley (Ripley/Ripley) who posted a 21-7 major decision victory.

With his fourth win of the year, Gary Cooper tied Jon Eschenfelder for sixth place all-time with 83 career victories, while Ryan Bentley tied Scott Slade for eighth place with his 81st career win.

Buffalo will next see action this Saturday at the highly-competitive Mat Town USA Tournament at Lock Haven, PA. Other teams scheduled to be at that tournament include Nebraska, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Ohio and host Lock Haven, who the Bulls beat 23-20 earlier this week when the Bald Eagles were ranked 20th in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News.

The match-by-match results:

Weight Winner Loser Score/Time Match Score

125 Mark Budd (Buffalo) Kyle Willard MD, 9-0 Buffalo, 4-0

133 Mike Trotta (Buffalo) Mike Shannon Fall, 1:30 Buffalo, 10-0

141 Josh Ruff (Binghamton) Adam Grillo MD, 17-5 Buffalo, 10-4

149 Ryan Bentley (Buffalo) Joe Gartiser MD, 21-7 Buffalo, 14-4

157 Joe Privitere (Binghamton) Labe Black 5-1 Buffalo, 14-7

165 Tom Paladino (Buffalo) Ryan Jantzen Fall, 3:31 Buffalo, 20-7

174 Gary Cooper (Buffalo) Jeff McAveney MD, 16-7 Buffalo, 24-7

184 Garrett Bontempo (Buffalo) Jeff Vitale MD, 16-5 Buffalo, 28-7

197 Kyle Cerminara (Buffalo) Derman Lewis 15-8 Buffalo, 31-7

Hwt Tom Curl (Buffalo) Jon Gregg 5-2 Buffalo, 34-7