U mat: Gophers edge Wisconsin 20-18 on bonus points

Usually the Gophers can count on a victory at 133 pounds in wrestling.

Senior Jayson Ness is 19-0 at that weight, but he was in street clothes on Friday at Williams Arena. Ness, rated No. 2 nationally, is injured.

So redshirt freshman Thane Antczak, 9-8, took his spot in the last match of the dual meet with Wisconsin, trailing 20-14, still hoping for a tie. His Badgers opponent was Tyler Graff, another redshirt freshman, and rated No. 8 in the nation.

Graff repeatedly took Antzak down, 13, 14 times, and let him escape to get more takedowns. But Graff, now 18-4, could not get a pin, worth six points, which would have given the Badgers a tie. Graff won 29-14 for a technical fall worth only four points instead of the more common five because Graff did not have any near fall points.

"It pretty much went the way it was supposed to, in who won," Gophers coach J Robinson said. "We knew it was going to be on bonus points. That was a big deal for us [Friday]."

Each team won five matches, but Michael Thorn of the Gophers started the match with a five-point technical fall (19-4) at 141 pounds, and teammates Dustin Schlatter (12-3) at 157, Scott Glasser (14-5) at 174 and Zach Sanders (17-3) at 125 all had four-point major decisions. That's five bonus points. Enough to win if Antczak does his job.

"Thane is kind of the hero of the night," Robinson said. "He knew he had to go out there. It's one of those deals -- sometimes when you wrestle you can get caught. And he knew he couldn't do that. So he had to wrestle a different kind of a match.

In this case, Antczak made sure the Gophers won by staying off his back.

Heavyweight Ben Berhow, the one winning Gopher who did not earn bonus points, had a crucial victory, too. He edged Eric Bugenhagen of Wisconsin 5-4 with a takedown with 15 seconds left.

"[Berhow] showed a lot of heart," Robinson said. "In a couple of those scrambles, he could have easily given up [takedown] points and he fought through. That's what we have been talking about, being more intense. ... In Ben's situation, that's what we got to do. We got to win the close ones."

Berhow called his match a battle of wills. "And my will was stronger than his," Berhow said.

Sanders expected the match to be close. "We knew going in that, on paper, it could go either way," Sanders said. "The coaches preached to us that we need bonus points when we can [get them], just in case. It paid off in the end."

Schlatter at 157 and Cody Yohn at 165 both went down a weight Friday night for the Gophers. "They did good," Robinson said. "Cody Yohn wrestled the No. 1 kid and it was a pretty dead even match for four minutes. He just got to get some more conditioning." Yohn lost to Andrew Howe by a score of 15-5, a major decison. Howe is 21-0 and was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season.

On Sunday, the Gophers will wrestle Purdue at 2 p.m. at the Sports Pavilion in a meet where all the ticket revenue will go toward endowing wrestling scholarships. "We hope we get a great turnout," Robinson said. "It's a chance for people to put their money where their heart is."