Smith takedown in OT beats Jack

North Carolina State senior Kevin Jack is competing in the NCAA Division I tournament for the fourth straight year. (Graphic courtesy North Carolina State wrestling)

CLEVELAND, March 15 – Bucknell senior Tyler Smith got a takedown with 32 seconds left in overtime to bounce North Carolina State’s Kevin Jack of Danbury from the championship bracket of NCAA Division I wrestling tournament Thursday night, 6-4 at Quicken Loans Arena.

Smith (29-4) took advantage of a pause by Jack to swoop in and get a single leg takedown. He continued in put Jack on his side and secured the match-winning takedown. Smith, the No. 12 seed at 141 pounds, avenged a second round loss to Jack a year ago when Jack prevailed 4-0 in this same round.

Jack (19-4) falls into the consolation round with his second loss in three matches. He fell in overtime in the finals of the ACC Tournament a week ago.

He will face the winner of the consolation round match between Evan Cheek (24-10) of Cleveland State and Henry Pohlymeyer of South Dakota State. Jack faces the prospect of winning three consecutive matches to earn All-American honors for the third time.

Jack was the aggressor in the first two periods and led 3-1. He had nine takedown attempts on Smith but could only finish on his first takedown attempt for a 2-0 lead just 34 seconds into the bout. Stalemate was called five times in the first two periods.

In the third period, Smith escaped to cut the lead to one point, 3-2. On his second takedown attempt of the match, he got in quickly on Jack’s ankle and got a takedown with 1:30 left in the match for a 4-3 lead. Jack got away 15 seconds later to tie the match at 4-4.

Smith had a 3-1 edge in takedown attempts in the third period and overtime. Smith said that was part of the game plan – more takedown attempts in the later stages of the match. “We have great coaches and we had a game plan that we executed for every match,” he said.

Jack had a dominating performance in his first round match – a 10-0 victory over Russell Rohlfing of California State at Bakersfield. Jack had three takedowns in the match and a two point near fall. He also had a whopping 5:12 of riding time to secure another point.

It was his 14th career victory in the NCAA tournament. After the loss to Smith, Jack is 14-6 in four appearances in the tournament.

2018 NCAA tournament results
First round: (5) Kevin Jack, North Carolina State dec. Russell Rohlfing, California State-Bakersfield, 10-0
Second round: (12) Tyler Smith, Bucknell dec. Kevin Jack, 6-4, OT

Recent Connecticut All-Americans
Division I
Kevin Jack (Danbury), North Carolina State, 3rd, 141, 2017
Kevin Jack (Danbury), North Carolina State, 5th, 141, 2015
Orville Palmer (Middletown), Oklahoma, 7th, 197, 2000
Jim Guzzio (Hand-Madison), Maryland, 5th, 134, 197
John Engel (Stamford), Lehigh, 1st, 118, 1931

2018 NCAA Division I tournament
Brackets