And with a 2-1 lead, it looked like the junior would hold on to win but a takedown with two seconds on the clock turned the tables and Frank Cagnina picked up the 3-2 decision.

Redshirt freshman Scott Mattingly won by a 4-3 decision to take back the lead, but the Mountain Hawks would go on to win six of the last seven matchups.

The last CMU win came on one of the closest matchups of the day. No. 5 Ben Bennett scored on an escape, and that’s all he needed, winning a 1-0 decision against No. 20 Austin Mets. The sophomore improves to 11-3 overall.

CMU won three of the team’s ten matches, but Borrelli was not impressed.

“The three obviously won their matches, but I hope they’re not satisfied with the way they won,” he said. “They all hung on for the win, and we’d rather see our guys succeed and build off that. We weren’t very sharp today, in both the matches that we won and lost.”

Junior Jarod Trice forced extra time against the No. 1 heavyweight Zach Rey following an escape by each wrestler in regulation. After a scoreless 60-second overtime, Rey scored on an escape and then held Trice down to win by a 2-1 decision.

“I feel like the guy (Trice) wrestled executed the game plan that he wanted to execute,” Borrelli said. “I think he wanted to hold Jarod down, and he did just that.”

Trice wasn’t pleased with himself and said that he’s confident he could have beaten Rey if he would have finished on his takedown.

“I wrestled pretty tough, but I’ve got to finish my takedowns and that’s the only way I can win the national championship,” he said. “I’m right there, I’ve just got to work on my finishes.”

The Chippewas get a break before traveling to Evanston, Ill., to compete at Midlands on Dec. 29 and 30.

“We really need that time to get better and work on our attitude, our toughness and our competitiveness,” Borrelli said.

CSU open

While the starters traveled to Lehigh, CMU sent 13 of its backup wrestlers to compete in the Cleveland State open Saturday, and three Chippewas placed in their respective weight classes.

Freshman Ben Matthiesen finished third in the 141-pound class, and redshirt freshman Joe Roth and freshman Tyler Keselring finished fourth in the 125 and 133 weight classes, respectively.

Matthiesen won in a variety of ways, recording a pin, a major decision and a decision before suffering a 4-3 decision in the semifinals. He turned around and was on the other side of a 4-3 decision in the consolation semifinals, before winning the third place match bye a 15-6 major decision.

Roth won his first two matches by major decisions before losing a 6-2 decision to Kent State’s Steve Mitcheff, who went on to win the weight class. Roth finished 3-2 in the tournament.

Keselring was knocked off in the second round of the tournament, losing a 2-1 decision. The freshman would go on to win the next five matches before suffering a tech fall in the third place match.

“These meets are for our guys that are redshirting and our nonstarters to get some competition,” Borrelli said.