No. 11 ASU wrestling earned a 20-12 victory versus No. 19 Oklahoma in Norman Friday.
Redshirt juniors Brandon Courtney and Michael McGee captured consecutive major decisions at the 125- and 133-pound weight classes, respectively, to help the Sun Devils jump out to an early 8-0 lead.
Oklahoma then won each of the next three matchups, taking a 9-8 lead into intermission.
The momentum shifted back to ASU (2-0) when redshirt senior Anthony Valencia recorded a two-point takedown in the final seconds of his 165-pound matchup against Oklahoma redshirt freshman Jake Stiles, earning a 3-1 victory to retake the lead.
Redshirt freshman Trey Munoz earned a victory in his Sun Devil debut at the 174-pound weight class, but redshirt senior Cade Belshay dropped his match at the 184-pound weight class to make the score 14-12 ASU.
In the most competitive bout of the night, ASU senior Kordell Norfleet and Oklahoma redshirt junior Jake Woodley played through two sudden victories and two tiebreaks at the 197-pound weight class. At 3-3, the only points recorded the entire match were from escapes.
Norfleet was awarded the three points due to the riding time tie-break, moving him to 3-0 on the season and extending ASU’s lead to five.
Redshirt freshman Cohlton Schultz won his matchup in the heavyweight class 3-2, moving him to 3-0 and clinching a Sun Devil victory.
Similar to ASU's first matchup against Little Rock, both ASU and Oklahoma agreed to extra individual matches to help individual wrestlers reach the minimum number of matches needed for NCAA Tournament qualification.
In the extra matches, both redshirt freshman Julian Chlebove and freshman Jesse Vasquez recorded victories at the 141- and 149-pound weight classes, respectively.
Courtney earned his second win of the night with a 10-1 major decision in the 125-pound weight class.
Belshay bounced back from his earlier loss, defeating Oklahoma redshirt freshman Carson Berryhill with a 6-1 decision.
ASU will travel to Ames, Iowa for a quad meet between four ranked teams. No. 11 ASU will take on No. 9 Iowa State, No. 10 Missouri and No. 23 Northern Iowa on Jan. 17.
Reach the reporter at dmwilhe1@asu.edu and follow @dmwilhelm225 on Twitter.
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