ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist Men's Wrestling split its two matches against American Midwest Conference (AMC) foes Wednesday night in Batesville, Ark.
After a close 26-21 loss to No. 11 Williams Baptist, the Spartans (4-1 in AMC) rebounded to take down Lyon 33-18 on the Scots home floor. The exciting display set-up the future AMC Conference Tournament on Feb. 6.
Demarcus Gurlly won via forfeit to start the match against Williams Baptist, but from then on the Eagles took over. JP Pitts (WBC) won by an 8-3 decision over Jonathan Bobeen and Danta Padilla (WBC) followed with a 22-10 major decision win over Michael Moncivais to give Williams Baptist a 7-6 lead.
The Eagles also won the next three bouts (one by forfeit) to take a commanding 22-6 lead. It wasn't enough, but the Spartans finished strong down the stretch. Andrew Carter-Johnson took down No. 14 Conner Linehan by Fall in just 38 seconds for six MBU points. No. 9 Andrew Mahone won by an 8-2 decision over his opponent in the 197-lb class. To top things off, Devol Whitfield defeated No. 14 Robert Moe by Fall in 59 seconds for six more points.
Roughly an hour later, it seemed the Spartans took that momentum into its match against Lyon. Bobeen won by a 6-3 decision in the 133-lb class and Moncivais followed with a win by Fall in 2:10 to give Missouri Baptist a 9-3 lead.
The Scots made things interesting, however, with three straight wins (one via forfeit). Bruce Whitehead defeated Matt Behr in an 11-6 decision and No. 10 Connor Webber took down Jake Mattson by Fall to give Lyon an 18-9 lead. However, Carter-Johnson, Mahone and Whitfield once again anchored the way to help the Spartans come away with a victory.
Carter-Johnson won by Fall in 4:24 in the 174-lb class to give MBU six points. The following two bouts were forfeited to give the Spartans a 28-18 lead and Whitfield finished things off with his second win on the night, this time by Fall in 1:33.
The Spartans will next compete in the aforementioned AMC Tournament on Feb. 6.
RESULTS- WBC
RESULTS- LYON
