WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Feb. 12) – Tim Elliott, Tommy McCarty and Zach James all earned bonus-point wins as No. 6-ranked Central Oklahoma rolled past No. 18 Central Missouri 27-7 here Thursday night.
The Bronchos won eight of 10 individual bouts in snapping a three-match losing streak and improved to 10-6-2 on the year while staying perfect (31-0) in the series against the Mules.
Elliott (125 pounds), McCarty (174) and James (197) picked up major decisions, with UCO also getting wins from 141 Colby Robinson, 149 Luke Elmore, 157 Kelly Henderson, 184 Daniel Morrison, 197 Zach James and heavyweight Dustin Finn.
“We looked ugly and sloppy in a lot of matches and still won, so I guess that's good,” UCO coach David James said. “It was a good win for us, but we've still got a lot of things we need to clean up.”
Elliott staked UCO to a 4-0 lead in the opening match of the dual at 125 with yet another bonus-point win as the senior racked up three takedowns and two near-falls in a 15-3 major decision. It was the 26th bonus-point victory of the season for the senior star, who improved to 36-10 on the year.
UCM came back to tie it with a major decision at 133, but the Bronchos pulled out three consecutive hard-fought decisions to take the lead for good.
Robinson started the streak at 141, using a takedown and two-point near-fall in the first period to take a 4-0 lead en route to a 5-2 victory. Elmore followed with a 6-4 triumph on the strength of a pair of takedowns, with Henderson using an escape and takedown in the second period to prevail 3-1 at 157 to give UCO a 13-4 lead.
The Mules got their second and final win at 165, but the Bronchos responded by winning the final four matches to pull away.
McCarty rolled to a 9-1 major decision at 174 that clinched the dual, scoring two takedowns and a reverse while piling up over five minutes riding time, and Morrison broke a scoreless tie with a second-period near-fall in pulling out a 5-1 win at 184.
James followed with a five-takedown blitz at 197 that carried him to a 16-5 rout and Finn capped the dual with a tough 4-1 overtime win over Cody Beck in a showdown of ranked heavyweights.
The two big men were deadlocked 1-1 after regulation and the one-minute sudden-victory period, with the fourth-ranked Finn controlling the fifth-rated Beck in the first 30-second tiebreaker before getting an escape and takedown in the second tiebreaker to pull out his 19th win of the season.
UCO 27, Central Missouri 7
125: Tim Elliott, UCO, major dec. Byron Clark, 15-3.
133: Grant Baker, UCM, major dec. Scott Berens, 11-2.
141: Colby Robinson, UCO, dec. Cory Bloodgood, 5-2.
149: Luke Elmore, UCO, dec. Will Forrest, 6-4.
157: Kelly Henderson, UCO, dec. Denis Ryzhov, 3-1.
165: Andrew Hicklin, UCM, dec. Ed Jackson, 8-6.
174: Tommy McCarty, UCO, major dec. Conor Fitzgerald, 9-1.
184: Daniel Morrison, UCO, dec. Travis Barbarick, 5-1.
197: Zach James, UCO, major dec. Dan McGee, 16-5.
Hvy: Dustin Finn, UCO, dec. Cody Beck, 4-1 (TB).
