Lockett Handles Business in Battle of Unbeatens as No. 3 Oklahoma State Romps 41-6

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor was mildly concerned that his now No. 3-ranked Cowboys might have a let down for the N7, Senior Night dual with unranked and beat up Little Rock coached by Oklahoma State alum Neil Erisman. No concerns, the Cowboys all wrestled enthused. The wrestler most challenged wasted no time in making sure he would take care of his responsibility. Stillwater’s own Dee Lockett had to rely on late heroics a week ago in beating No. 6 Ryder Downey of Northern Iowa with a last seconds takedown and two-point near fall. Not the case this Friday night and the Cowboys got the team victory 41-6

At 165 pounds and the battle of unbeatens, both Lockett and Little Rock’s Matt Bianchi came out aggressive. Locket had a leg early but the two wrestlers scrambled near the edge of the mat and Lockett used a blast double leg and put the 5th-rankled Bianchi on his back briefly, but the takedown made it 3-0. After an escape, the two wrestlers appeared to try a move simultaneously. It resulted in Biachi’s upper body being exposed and another takedown for Lockett. 

Lockett led 6-1 and got the riding time advantage starting on top in the second period. Biachni escaped. That was it for the second. In the third, Lockett was down and Bianchi got the riding time under a minute, then Lockett escaped for a 7-2 lead. The last minute and a half Bianchi worked hard but Lockett kept him at bay while still taking shots. No. 3 Dee Lockett stayed unbeaten at 12-0 and No. 5 Matt Bianchi fell to 16-1.

Oklahoma State led at that point 24-3. 

They got to that point with No. 7 Troy Spratley getting an early takedown and then turning Tyson Roach on his right shoulder for a four-point near fall and a 7-0 lead after the first period at 125 pounds. A pair of second period takedowns and another in the third led to an 18-2 tech fall to start the dual.

Oklahoma State Athletics/Twitter

Spratley happy with his tech fall at 125 pounds. 

At 133 pounds, Taylor went with freshman Ronnie Ramirez instead of unbeaten No. 11 Jax Forrest. Ramirez used a suplex for the first takedown and he kept right on going and added another takedown the same way along with three others and a four-point near fall. Ramirez had the tech fall as the first period horn sounded. 

Oklahoma State led 15-0 after the first three weights because unbeaten No. 2-ranked Sergio Vega racked up the third straight tech fall. He hit a single leg to a scramble for the first takedown and then rode out the period for 1:41 rifing time. Vega started down in the second and escaped quickly, got another takedown and a two-point near fall. Brennan Van Hoecke of Little Rock got an escape. Vega another takedown and used a leg pretzel move to work a four-point near fall and with riding time had the 17-1 tech fall. 

"When you get deep into the season, and you have this young group of guys or guys that maybe haven't had a ton of experience before, you kind of get boxed in," head coach David Taylor said. "The guys are starting to just believe in their abilities and kind of showcase them, which was good. Another good opportunity for the guys to compete; got to get ready for next week."

Taylor used freshman Beau Hickman of Tuttle to go instead of No. 9 Casey Swiderski at 149 pounds. Little Rock’s No. 23 Brock Herman, also this week’s Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week, jumped out early and held on for a 6-5 decision to put Little Rock on the board with the score 15-3.

You ever wonder why freshman Landon Robideau uses the theme from the Movie “Halloween” as his walk up music?  Another opponent at 157 pounds found out. Robideau was dominant in toying with the Trojans’ Marco Dalakishvili. It was 14-1 in the second period when Robideau followed up a four-point near fall by putting Dalakishvili on his back again and this time both shoulders down. The fall came at 3:32 of the match and the Cowboys went to the break in the dual up 21-3.

After Lockett got his win to go to 12-0 on the season, it just got worse for Little Rock. 

At 174 pounds, No. 7 Alex Facundo stayed on his roll with a first period fall at 2:32 over Bronson Baxter. The score was 7-0 when Facundo got the pin.

Little Rock did get their second win of the dual at 184 pounds as Kodiak Cannedy wrestled well and took an 8-2 decision from Cowboys senior Trevor Dopps, who jumped in at that weight for injured Zack Ryder.

Oklahoma State closed it out with back-to-back falls, one pin and one tech.

At 197 pounds where Little Rock was still missing two-time NCAA All-American Stephen Little, No. 7 Cody Merrill of the Cowboys was completely dominat over Little’s backup Liam Daniels. Merrill was crushing when he pinned him at 4:55 in the match. 

The other Oklahoma State senior wrestling on Senior Night was heavyweight Konner Doucet. The No. 7-ranked heavyweight kept scoring on Kaden Darwin until he finished it in the second period with another takedown for a 21-6 tech fall at 4:48 in the match. 

That put the final score at 41-6. Oklahoma State is now 13-1 on the season. They are finished in the Big 12 at 7-0. Only two duals left, Feb. 15 at Virginia Tech and Feb. 22 at 5 p.m. in Gallagher-Iba Arena against rival Iowa.