Blue Devils Take No. 9 Pittsburgh to the Wire

Sunday, January 11

Pittsburgh, Pa.

10:00 AM

Duke University

Pittsburgh

No. 23 Blue Devils Host No. 3 NC State Wednesday

Blue Devils Take No. 9 Pittsburgh to the Wire

1/11/2015 1:59:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

PITTSBURGH, Pa. –The Duke University wrestling team took No. 9 Pittsburgh to the brink, but an overtime win in the final bout lifted the Panthers to the 20-15 victory over the Blue Devils in the second round of the Pitt Duals. Duke finished the day with a 0-2 record with a pair of losses decided with the final match of each dual.

Redshirt senior Immanuel Kerr-Brown and redshirt sophomore Jake Faust both went unbeaten for the day at 157 and 165 pounds, respectively. Jacob Kasper, Trey Adamson, Conner Hartmann and Evan Botwin split their duals on the day.

Duke (5-3) and Pittsburgh (6-2) traded points throughout the dual with the Blue Devils leading 12-11 with four bouts remaining. The Panthers, with consecutive victories at 174 and 184, regained the 17-11 lead before Hartmann pulled the Blue Devils within two, 17-15, to set up the thrilling finish.

With Pittsburgh leading 17-15, Panther's Ryan Solomon and Duke's Brendan Walsh faced off at heavyweight for a winner take all match. Scoreless after the first period, Walsh started the second stanza on bottom. The redshirt junior quickly escaped in the second period for the 1-0 lead after two periods.

Solomon matched Walsh's escape in the third and the heavyweight duo headed to overtime. Neither wrestler was able to get on board in the sudden victory overtime as they moved onto to the tiebreak situation. Walsh, on bottom in the first tiebreak, could not escape Solomon's grasp to keep the bout even 1-1. Needing an escape, Solomon wasted little time in getting out and held on in the closing seconds to keep Pitt's perfect ACC record alive.

A forfeit by Pitt at 141 pounds to Duke's Evan Botwin helped put Duke in position down the stretch. Kerr-Brown earned his 15th win of the year with a convincing 8-2 decision that pulled Duke within two, 11-9. Faust put the Blue Devils up for the first time of the afternoon as he avenged his loss to Cody Wiercioch in the Southern Scuffle with an 11-9 sudden victory win. Faust rallied in the final seconds to force overtime and rode that momentum into the overtime triumph.

No. 9 Pittsburgh 20, Duke 15

125: Dom Forys (Pitt) major dec. Thayer Atkins (Duke), 14-4 Pitt 4, Duke 0

133: Nick Zanetta (Pitt) dec. Mitch Finesilver (Duke), 5-3 Pitt 7, Duke 0

141:Evan Botwin (Duke) wins by forfeit Pitt 7, Duke 6

165: Jake Faust (Duke) dec. Cody Wiercioch (Pitt), 11-9 – SV1 Pitt 11, Duke 12

174: No. 8 Tyler Wilps (Pitt) dec. Trey Adamson (Duke), 7-5 itt 14, Duke 12

184: No. 2 Max Thomusseit (Pitt) dec. Jacob Kasper (Duke), 5-2 Pitt 17, Duke 12

197: No. 5 Conner Hartmann (Duke) dec. No. 14 Nick Bonnacorsi, 5-2 Pitt 17, Duke 15

285: Ryan Solomon (Pitt) dec. Brendan Walsh (Duke), 2-1 – TB-1 Pitt 20, Duke 15

Duke returns to action Friday, Jan. 16 at No. 15 Virginia. Action is set to begin at 7 p.m.

#GoDuke