CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. – Indiana Tech men's wrestling battled with Thomas More earlier today only to have a late comeback and win 26-22.

The match started at the 125-pound weight class where Brendon Mark faced off against Shay Horton. Horton started with a quick takedown before going out of bounds and being reset to the middle of the mat. Mark escaped to make the score 2-1 before the end of the first period. Mark strategically chose down for the start of the second period but was unable to get away from Horton while Horton worked for the pin. Mark lost to Horton via fall in 3:44. Next up for Tech was Malachi Greene at 133 to face James Mulenga. Greene was the aggressor earlier with the first takedown and two points before Mulenga escaped. Greene went right back at him and earned another takedown before getting Mulenga to his back and pinning him in just 1:32 to tie the match 6-6. At 141, Kyle Kantola faced off against Ryan Moore. Kantola scored the first two points of the match before Moore earned the reversal to tie it 2-2. Moore earned two more points before the period was out to lead 4-2. Kantola deferred the decision for the second period to Moore who chose down. Moore worked for a reversal on Kantola and took a 6-2 lead to ride out the second period. In the third period the wrestlers started in neutral before Moore recorded another takedown to lead 8-2. A stalling call on Kantola and a point for riding time earned Moore the 10-2 major decision victory and a 10-6 lead for Thomas More.

Corey Cavanaugh represented the Warriors at 149 while Cody Roland took the mat for Thomas More. Roland scored the first points with a takedown before Cavanaugh escaped to put the match at 2-1. Cavanaugh then recorded a takedown of his own to lead 3-2 before the end of the first period. The second period started with Cavanaugh on top. A stalling call on Cavanaugh tied the match 3-3 before heading into the final period. Cavanaugh escaped at the beginning of the third to lead 4-3 before earning two more points to lead 6-3. Cavanaugh scrambles through a shot by Roland and ends up with two more points to win the match 9-3 with riding time and put Tech within one (10-9). At 157, Nick Gates faced Wilder Wichman for the third time this year. Two stalling calls tied the match at 1-1 before Wichman took the 2-1 lead at the beginning of the third with an escape. Wichman then recorded a takedown for two more points before Gates escaped. Gates ran out of time and fell 4-2 and Thomas More now led 13-9.

Hunter Gasper took the mat for Tech at 165 to wrestled Matt Lewis of Thomas More. Gasper had a quick start with a takedown followed by four back points to take a 6-0 lead. Gasper continued to e in control with more and more back points until he won via tech fall (16-0) in 3:00. The Warriors now led 14-13 for their first lead of the match. Rahman Johnson faced off against Dylan Mosher at 174. Johnson started off similarly to Gasper with a quick takedown and four back points to lead 6-0. Johnson then recorded four more back points to lead 10-0 before pinning Mosher on his back and winning the match for six points to Tech. Johnson pinned Mosher in 2:54 for the Warriors to lead 20-13. Luke Smith was up next for Tech at 184 and he wrestled Andrew Taylor. It was a slow-moving match where no points were scored in the first period. Smith chose down to start the second period and escaped to lead 1-0. Taylor had the same strategy at the beginning of the third which tied the match 1-1. There was a late stalling call against Smith at the very end of the third that gave the 2-1 victory to Taylor and three points to Thomas More.

Jacob Brandt took the mat at 197 for Tech to battle Daulton Mayer of Thomas More. Mayer had a quick takedown that led to pinning Brandt on his back to win the match in 1:07. Thomas More now led 22-20 heading into the final match of the day. At heavyweight, Vernon Willis of Tech wrestled Joseph Wahl of Thomas More. Wahl had an early takedown for two points before Willis pulled the reversal to tie it 2-2. In the second period, Willis gets another reversal for two more points to lead 4-2 which he turns into a pin in 3:56 to earn six points for the Warriors and win the match 26-22.

Tech is back in action at Lourdes for a WHAC match up on Thursday, January 21^st.