Wrestling | 2/13/2022 4:53:00 PM

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – After celebrating the five graduating seniors Sunday afternoon, the Bloomsburg University wrestling team got four pins to take down Cleveland State, 27-18, in front of an electric crowd inside Nelson Field House. The Huskies improved to 8-6 for the season.
 
The Huskies led Cleveland State 21-19 going into the day's final match, and Shane Noonan (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton Area) and Daniel Bucknavich took the mat for the 285-pound match. Bucknavich got an early takedown to take a 2-0 lead, but after a stall warning was issued to the Viking, Noonan worked an escape to cut the lead to 2-1. Bucknavich got another takedown and seemed to take control of the match until Noonan got the reversal right in front of the Huskies bench and put Bucknavich on his back. Noonan got the pinned called with 18 seconds left in the first period to seal the match win for the Huskies in a dramatic fashion.


 
Junior Cole Rhone (Benton, Pa./Benton Area) put the Huskies on the board first at 133-pounds as he earned a tough 4-2 decision over Jake Manley. Rhone scored first as he worked a late takedown in the first period to go up 2-0 going into the second. Manley deferred starting the second period, and Rhone chose to go on the defense. Rhone quickly scored with an escape to take a 3-0 lead. Manely cut the lead to 3-2 with a takedown in the third, but Rhone capped his victory with an escape late in the third for the 4-2 win.
 
Redshirt junior Josh Mason (New Ringgold, Pa./Blue Mountain) came into Sunday's match sixth in NCAA DI for most falls this season, and he kicked off a string of three-straight pins for the Huskies with his 11^th pin against DI opponents and 13^th overall for the season at 141-pounds. Mason got a takedown quickly and scored a four-point near fall before getting Hunter Olson's back to touch the match at 2:39 for six team points for the Huskies.
 
Freshman Cade Balestrini (Sunbury, PA/Shikellamy) pushed the Huskies lead to 9-4 with his third pin of the season at 149-pounds. Much like Mason, Balestrini got his takedown quickly into action in the first and got the pin call at 1:39 for the 15-4 match lead.
 
Senior Alex Carida (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) capped the pin-run for the Huskies as he fought hard against Ryan Granger in the 157-pound bout. Carida opened the match with a takedown early in the first and nearly had his pin but settled for a four-point near-fall call to take the 6-0 lead into the second period. The senior went on the defense first, and after a stall warning was called against Granger, Carida got his escape and takedown to push his lead to 9-0 before his pin came at 4:44, just 16 seconds left in the second period. After Carida's pin, the Huskies led Cleveland State, 21-4.
 
The Vikings worked their way back into the match with three major decision victories and one decision win to cut the Huskies lead to 21-19 going into the final match.

Next Sunday, Bloomsburg is back in action for the Huskies' final dual of the season as they visit Edinboro for an 11:00 am Mid-American Conference (MAC) contest.
 
Final results: 
125:   Logan Heil (Cleveland State) over Bronson Garber (Millersburg, Pa./Upper Dauphin) (Bloomsburg) (MD 14-1) 0-4
133:   Cole Rhone (Benton, Pa./Benton Area) (Bloomsburg) over Jake Manley (Cleveland State) (Dec 4-2) 3-4
141:   Josh Mason (New Ringgold, Pa./Blue Mountain) (Bloomsburg) over Hunter Olson (Cleveland State) (Fall 2:39) 9-4
149:   Cade Balestrini (Sunbury, PA/Shikellamy) (Bloomsburg) over Joey Caprella (Cleveland State) (Fall 1:39) 15-4
157:  Alex Carida (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) (Bloomsburg) over Ryan Granger (Cleveland State) (Fall 4:44) 21-4
165:  Riley Smucker (Cleveland State) over Trenton Harder (Gardners, Pa./Bermudian Springs) (Bloomsburg) (MD 16-2) 21-8
174:  Anthony Rice (Cleveland State) over Matt Benedetti (Manalapan, N.J./Manalapan) (Bloomsburg) (MD 12-3) 21-12
184:  DeAndre Nassar (Cleveland State) over Bruno Stolfi (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) (Bloomsburg) (Dec 3-2) 21-15
197:  Benjamin Smith (Cleveland State) over David Tuttle (Steubenville, Ohio/Steubenville) (Bloomsburg) (MD 19-7) 21-19
285: Shane Noonan (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton Area) (Bloomsburg) over Daniel Bucknavich (Cleveland State) (Fall 2:42) 27-19
Cleveland State - Unsportsmanlike Conduct  0 -1
Team Score: 27-18