Feb. 11, 2001

MADISON, Wis. - The seventh-ranked University of Illinois wrestling team defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 27-11 Sunday afternoon at the UW Field House in Madison, Wis. With the win the Illini improve to 11-2 overall and 5-2 in the Big Ten while the Badgers drop to 10-8-1 and 2-4.

The dual started at 133 pounds and the Illini found themselves on the short side of a 10-0 decision as No. 10 Kevin Black of Wisconsin defeated Dave Stoltz of Illinois to put the Badgers out front early by a score of 4-0. The Illini countered winning the next three bouts starting at 141 where No. 20 Mike Castillo defeated Wisconsin's Grant Hoerr, ranked 13th, 8-3 to close the team score to 4-3. Illinois' Adam Tirapelle collected a forfeit win at 149 pounds and Griff Powell earned a technical fall over Wisconsin's P.J. Dowling to extend the Illini lead to 14-4.

The feature match of the dual took place at 165 pounds where Wisconsin's defending NCAA and Big Ten champion Donny Pritzlaff faced sixth-ranked Matt Lackey of Illinois. Lackey scored the first takedown of the match followed by a Pritzlaff escape and Lackey held a 2-1 advantage and the end of one period. Pritzlaff started the second period down and managed an escape for the only scoring to end the second tied 2-2. Lackey earned an escape to lead 3-2 to start the third then Pritzlaff scored a takedown with 20 seconds remaining and earned two near fall points at the buzzer to win 6-3. The Wisconsin win closed the gap to 14-7.

"It was a great match," Illinois head coach Mark Johnson said, referring to the Lackey-Pritzlaff bout. "He was right there against the number one guy in the nation and it will be a great confidence boost for Matt. He just needs to get back in the room and work a little bit harder and we could see some great things from him come tournament time."

Illinois would then win four of the last five matches for the decisive win. Ryan Lewis of Wisconsin defeated John Sears 14-5 at 174 pounds. Sears filled in for the injured Ben King for the second consecutive match and fell to 3-7 overall and 1-3 in duals. No. 2 Nate Patrick collected his team-leading 27th win of the season with a 5-4 decision over Ralph DeNisco. Patrick is now 27-2 with nine falls. Pat Quirk won 16-5 at 197 for the Illini, John Lockhart won 3-2 and No. 19 Ryan Escobar beat No. 15 Tony Black of Wisconsin 9-8 in the last match of the day to give the Illini the 27-11 win.

The Fighing Illini will close out the regular season next weekend at home against Ohio State. The Buckeyes and Illini will square off Sunday, Feb. 18, at 1 p.m. at Huff Hall.

Individual Results