The Spartans got the night started with two big wins in the 125- and 133-pound weight classes to take a 9-0 lead.
Sophomore Mitchell Johnson (12-13, 2-2 SoCon) tacked on his fifth fall victory of the season with a 2:57 pin against Taylor Cummings (20-12). Johnson has won two of the three matches versus Cummings this year.
Thirteenth-ranked senior Jeff Hedges (22-9, 4-0 SoCon) won his 11th consecutive match with a 6-4 decision over Darius Little (10-11). Hedges is now 2-0 against Little. Earlier this week he was tagged the Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week.
The Wolfpack seemed to be making a comeback as they won the next four matches and took a 17-9 point lead.
No. 5 Joe Caramanica (28-4) got things started with a seven-minute, 17-2 technical fall over senior Ben Wilmore (4-14, 2-2). Ninth-ranked Darrion Caldwell (28-3) followed with a 1:43 fall victory over junior Marcus Hannah (14-6, 3-1 SoCon) in the 149-pound bout.
Colton Palmer (6-9) kept the momentum going as he defeated senior Mark Ring (7-13, 2-1 SoCon) with a third-period takedown to win 7-4 and Jalil Dozier (12-11) won a 17-10 decision over redshirt freshman Byron Sigmon (13-13, 3-1 SoCon).
Not to be putout by the eight-point deficit, the blue and gold answered with four back-to-back wins to take the lead and the dual win away from the Wolfpack.
Freshman Mikal McKee (11-16, 1-3 SoCon) took the 174-pound bout with a 12-3 major decision over Ray Ward (5-8) to give the team four points and at 184, sophomore Jeremy Cannon (6-4, 0-0 SoCon) nearly shutout Dane Coffee (0-10) with a 10-1 major.
With the scores tied at 17-17, thirteenth-ranked senior Daren Burns (28-6, 4-0 SoCon) not only gave the Spartans the lead with a 1-0 victory over Mark Jahad (9-17), but he also made UNCG history. The win was Burns' 100th in his career at UNCG and made him the first Spartan to ever reach the century mark.
As he has done in the past, junior Ryan Hsu (19-11, 4-0 SoCon) sealed the victory for the Spartans as he took the heavyweight bout with a 5-2 decision over Bobby Isola (15-12).
The Spartans are now 9-7 on the season with a 3-1 Southern Conference record. With the loss, NC State drops to an 8-10-1.
UNCG is back in action Wednesday, February 20 as they take on the Duke Blue Devils. Prior to the 7pm start time, the Spartans will honor four of its senior squad members.
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