Transcript Staff
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Oklahoma fell in a hole Thursday against Nebraska, but dug its way out of it to get a 22-15 win and the Sooners' first Big 12 Conference victory.
The Sooners won the final six matches to turn around an early 15-0 deficit.
Freshmen Jarrod Patterson (125 pounds) and Kendric Maple (133) put the win in motion. Patterson edged Nebraska's David Klingsheim, 4-3, to get OU on the scoreboard. Maple blanked C.J. Napier, 4-0, to narrow the gap.
Zack Bailey nailed down one of the biggest victories of the night with a 12-4 major decision win over Nebraska's Mike Koehnlein at 144 pounds.
The lead belonged to OU (13-2-1, 1-1-1 Big 12) after the Huskers (9-8, 0-2) forfeited 149 pounds to Kyle Terry. Shane Vernon lifted the advantage to 19-15 with a 2-0 victory over Tyler Koehn at 157 pounds.
Tyler Caldwell's 3-0 win over Nebraska's James Nakashima at 165 pounds ended the night.
The end was much better than the beginning for the Sooners.
Nebraska's Stephen Dwyer scored a 10-2 victory over Jeff James at 174 pounds in the dual's first match.
OU's Erich Schmidtke dropped a 5-1 decision to Josh Ihnen at 184 pounds. Nebraska started to distance itself in the 197-pound match. Craig Brester roughed up OU's Eric Lapotsky for an 18-2 technical fall.
OU's final loss came at heavyweight where Nebraska's Tucker Lane topped Nathan Fernandez 6-3.
The Sooners will try to complete a perfect road trip Saturday at Missouri.
