OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, March 20, 2014 – Iowa’s Richard Burak got a takedown as time expired to stun Bloomsburg University’s Richard Perry with a 4-3 decision in the second round of the NCAA Division I wrestling tournament Thursday night at 197 pounds.
Burak, the No. 11 seed, trailed 3-2 before exploding for a double leg takedown and two points as time expired.
“I knew there was 12 seconds left when we came back to the middle,” said Burak, who will face No. 14 Chris Penny of Virginia Tech in the quarterfinals. “I went for a double, got in pretty deep and just tried to finish right away. I made sure my toe was in, heard everyone yell two, and saw the ref gave me two. It felt good.”
Perry, the Bloomsburg senior who graduated Middletown High in 2008, took a 2-1 lead in the first period with a takedown. Burak tied the match at 2-2 in the second with an escape before Perry, the sixth seed, took a 3-2 lead with an escape with 1:54 remaining in the third period.
Perry (32-2) had a 31-match winning streak snapped. He will be wrestling in the consolation round on Friday. Perry used three takedowns in the second period to take command of his opening round match, a 12-6 decision over Bryce Barnes of Army. A takedown with one second left in the second period gave him the lead for good at 7-5. He added another two takedowns in the third period.
Granby native Dominick Malone of Northwestern (133 pounds) lost his opening round match to No. 5 Tyler Graff of Wisconsin by tech fall, 25-9 in 6:21. But Malone rallied to win his opening round consolation match with a 6-3 win over Kevin Devoy of Drexel with a takedown in each period. Malone will continue wrestling Friday morning.
Perry and Malone are the only two Connecticut-born wrestlers in the tournament. After the first two rounds, Penn State leads Minnesota and Oklahoma by five points with Iowa fourth, six points off the pace. Iowa has six wrestlers in the quarterfinals.
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