Blue Devils Drop 16-15 Heartbreaker to Tar Heels

Wednesday, February 11

Durham, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

North Carolina

Blue Devils Drop 16-15 Heartbreaker to Tar Heels

2/11/2015 10:13:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.—North Carolina scored bonus points in a pair of matches to hand Duke a heartbreaking 16-15 loss in thrilling ACC wrestling action between the Blue Devils and No. 25 Tar Heels in Card Gym tonight. Duke, wrestling its final home match of the season, honored its six outstanding seniors prior to the dual.

Marcus Cain, Brendan Fowler, Brandon Gambucci, Tanner Hough, Immanuel Kerr-Brown and Dylan Ryan each were recognized for their contributions to the program over the years prior to the dual.

“These seniors, especially IKB and Gambucci, bought in right away with what we believed in and that's building the total student-athlete. It's a blessing on Friday night's to lay down and go to bed knowing that your guys are going to do the right things. They've all meant so much to this program in so many different ways.”

Both teams won five bouts apiece, but the major decisions in favor of the Tar Heels and 165 and 184 proved to be the difference. Both seniors Cain and Kerr-Brown finished their home careers with a bang with tight decisions at 149 and 157, respectively.

“You have two good teams out there and you just can't give up bonus points,” said head coach Glen Lanham. “It was tough. I feel for our seniors. I really wanted to beat this team for them and I think we were capable of doing it.”

Starting at 125, Duke rookie Thayer Atkins picked up a huge 7-2 decision over Cody Karns. Atkins, after giving up the early takedown to Karns, used a strong second period to take a narrow 4-2 lead into the final two minutes. The Dallas native added a takedown in the third to secure his first career ACC victory and give Duke the early 3-0 lead.

North Carolina answered by taking a hard-fought 4-2 decision at 133 and a 3-1 win at 141 to begin the back-and-forth battle that featured three ties and three lead changes.

Cain stepped up at 149 to tie the match at 6-6 with a 6-4 decision over Christian Barber. A tie match at 2-2 after a second stalling call on Cain, the Winston-Salem, N.C., responded with a flurry of action as he escaped and scored a takedown in seconds for the 5-2 lead. Barber refused to go away, but Cain held on down the stretch for his 15th win of the year.

The match at 157 was perhaps the most exciting of the night as Kerr-Brown outlasted Christopher Mears 3-2 in double overtime. In a tightly contested match where neither wrestler could score the pair headed to overtime tied at one apiece. After a scoreless first overtime, Mears escaped for the 2-1 lead, but a second stalling warning against the Tar Heel tied it up leaving Kerr-Brown needing just an escape in 30 seconds for the win. The Rome, Ga., native needed just 15 seconds to escape and hold on for his 19th victory of the year and put the Blue Devils up 9-6 at intermission.

“When I got that stalling point I thought 'I got this',” said Kerr-Brown. “I knew I was going to get out. He didn't hold me very long during the actual match and I'm pretty good at getting out. So I thought, okay let's get this escape real quick and just be ready for him to come back at me.”

Docked a point by the official to make it a 9-5 Duke lead, North Carolina came into the 165-pound bout in search of bonus points. Ethan Ramos, ranked 12th nationally, controlled the match en route to the 18-7 major decision and tie the match for the final time.

The Tar Heels added seven points to the board with a decision and major decision at 174 and 184, respectively, leaving Duke work to do with two bouts remaining.

At 197, seventh-ranked Conner Hartmann dominated the action against Chip Ness for the 6-0 decision to bring the team score to 16-12 with just the heavyweight match remaining. The victory for Hartmann was his 15th of the year and keeps him undefeated in the ACC.

Needing a technical fall or pin, Brendan Walsh wrestled well for the Blue Devils. The redshirt junior turned Frank Abbondanza once for a pair of nearfall points, but couldn't quite get the Tar Heel heavyweight all the way turned for the fall as North Carolina escaped the upset.

Duke is back in action right away at No. 9 Virginia Tech Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils close the regular season at Michigan State and Michigan Feb. 20 and 21, respectively.

Weight	Match	Score	Duke	UNC
125	Thayer Atkins (DU) dec. Cody Karns (UNC)	7-2	3	0
133	Troy Heilmann (UNC) dec. Mitch Finesilver (DU)	4-2	3	3
141	No. 19 Joey Ward (UNC) dec. Evan Botwin (DU)	3-1	3	6
149	Marcus Cain (DU) dec. Christian Barber (UNC)	6-4	6	6
157	Immanuel Kerr-Brown (DU) dec. Christopher Mears (UNC)	3-2 TB-1	9	5*
165	No. 12 Ethan Ramos (UNC) major dec. Brian Dorsey (DU)	18-7	9	9
174	John Staudenmayer (UNC) dec. Trey Adamson (DU)	5-1	9	12
184	Scott Marmoll (UNC) major dec. Jacob Kasper (Du)	11-2	9	16
197	No. 7 Conner Hartmann (DU) dec. Chip Ness (UNC)	6-0	12	16
285	Brendan Walsh (DU) dec. Frank Abbondanza (UNC)	5-0	15	16
	* North Carolina deducted team bench point for team bench warning