The Tigers claimed six of the night's 10 matches en route to the win. OU head coach Mark Cody credited Missouri for wrestling well and entering the contest with a good plan. He added he thought the Sooners competed with some anxiety and fear.
"Sometimes you get into these big matches and those insecurities will surface, and I've been in this situation before where you have to shake those anxieties before tournament time," Cody stated. "I think this group can do it and that we have a lot of guys who can score a lot of points at the end of the year."
Registering victories for the Sooners in the match that saw five lead changes were No. 8 Cody Brewer, No. 18 Justin DeAngelis, Clark Glass and No. 1 Andrew Howe.
At 133 pounds, Brewer dominated Missouri redshirt freshman Matt Manley, taking the bout by an 18-3 technical fall. Brewer registered four takedowns, a reversal, a two-point nearfall and a three-point nearfall in the victory. He also took the riding time point with 3:06.
DeAngelis fought to a 5-3 decision at 157 pounds of freshman Joey Lavallee to increase OU's deficit to one point at 9-8. With a 6-2 decision in the 165-pound match, Glass gave the Sooners their first lead of the night by a score of 11-9.
Howe, who wrestled at 184 pounds instead of his usual weight class of 174 due to Danny Chaid being ill, won by a 22-9 major decision of sophomore Cody Johnston. Howe had nine takedowns in the bout.
The Sooners dropped matches at 125, 141, 149, 174, 197 and 285 pounds.
The dual began at 125 pounds, where freshman Sean Williams fell to freshman Barlow McGhee by decision, 3-1. Williams replaced redshirt senior and seventh-ranked Jarrod Patterson, who is recovering from an injury.
At 141 pounds, Missouri's Lavion Mayes topped No. 15 Nick Lester by decision. 6-4. The 149-pound match featured the No. 1 and No. 2 wrestlers in Missouri's Drake Houdashelt and OU's Kendric Maple, respectively. The bout was close throughout, but Houdashelt eventually defeated Maple by a 3-2 decision.
Missouri's 18th-ranked Mikey England won by a 6-1 decision of OU's Derek Geiges at 174 pounds, while No. 6 J'den Cox of the Tigers downed No. 3 Travis Rutt by decision, 6-1.
The dual was tied at 15 entering the heavyweight division, where Devin Mellon beat No. 16 Ross Larson by decision, 6-0, to seal the victory for Missouri.
Even though some of the Sooners' usual starters were not in the lineup, Cody said the team has no excuses.
"If everybody is here and everyone is firing on the right cylinders, we're going to be great," Cody explained. "With a couple of guys out in a meet like this, it makes things tough, but we have no excuses. Even if half of my lineup isn't out there, we still have to be able to step up with that we put out on the mat because everybody is trained that way."
Prior to the start of the contest, OU's senior class of Patterson, Lester, Maple, Geiges, Howe, Rutt and Chase Gordon were recognized as part of Senior Night.
The Sooners hit the road for two Big 12 battles next week as they face West Virginia on Thursday, Feb. 6, at 6 p.m. CT and No. 9 Oklahoma State on Sunday, Feb. 9, at 2 p.m. CT. On March 8, the Sooners host the Big 12 Championship inside McCasland Field House. Limited tickets are still available online or by calling the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424 or toll-free at (800) 456-GoOU.
Results:
125: Barlow McGhee dec. Sean Williams (OU), 3-1
133: No. 8 Cody Brewer (OU) tech. fall. Matt Manley (Missouri), 18-3
141: Lavion Mayes dec. No. 15 Nick Lester (OU), 6-4
149: No. 1 Drake Houdashelt (Missouri) dec. No. 2 Kendric Maple (OU), 3-2
157: No. 18 Justin DeAngelis (OU) dec. Joey Lavallee (Missouri), 5-3
165: Clark Glass (OU) dec. Jordan Gagliano (Missouri), 6-2
174: No. 18 Mikey England (Missouri) dec. Derek Geiges (OU), 6-1
184: Andrew Howe (OU) maj. dec. Cody Johnston (Missouri), 22-9
197: No. 6 J'den Cox (Missouri) dec. No. 3 Travis Rutt (OU), 6-1
285: Devin Mellon (Missouri) dec. No. 16 Ross Larson (OU), 6-0
*Individual rankings from InterMat as of Jan. 28, 2014
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