MADISON, Wis. - It was an exciting night at the UW Field House, as the No. 18 Wisconsin wrestling team put on a show marking a 26-12 victory over Michigan State on Friday night to put a cap on its Big Ten dual season.

Wisconsin (6-5 overall, 4-5 Big Ten) suffered an early setback as Michigan State's Drew Barnes pinned Santonio Cathery (157), which gave MSU a 6-0 lead. However, the Badgers immediately turned the tides, winning the next five bouts. 

Connor Medbery (HWT) had a standout performance for the Badgers, adding five points to the board with a 15-0 tech fall. The victory was Wisconsin's lone bonus-point win of the night.

In the second match, Hunter Ritter got the Badgers back on track. He came out strong with two takedowns in the first period and kept control throughout to finish the 5-4 decision.     

Ricky Robertson (197) continued the Badgers successful rhythm starting with his first takedown in the first period. He attacked late in the second to take a 4-0 lead into the second period. He was taken down early in the third after escaping, but retaliated with a reversal at the last second to close the 7-2 decision.

The Badgers' winning ways continued through Medbery's win to defining decisions at 125 and 133 by Johnny Jimenez and Eli Stickley, respectively.

Andrew Crone ditched his "Comeback Crone" persona and attacked first for a 2-1 edge after the first period at 149. He slipped out of Trimble's grasp more than halfway through the second and then tacked another takedown. Trimble hit Crone with a reversal late in the third, but the Badger escaped and held off to clinch the 6-3 decision.

Seniors TJ Ruschell and Isaac Jordan both came away with victories at 157 and 165, respectively, -and secured the 26-12 Wisconsin victory. Ruschell defeated Austin Thompson, 8-4, and Jordan dropped Drew Hughes with a tight 3-2 decision.

The Wisconsin wrestling team returns to the UW Field House on Sunday to host Central Michigan. The dual is scheduled to start at 12 p.m. (CT). UW's esteemed senior class will be honored in a ceremony before the start of the dual.

MATCH POINTS
-UW won eight out of 10 matches on the night, marking the fourth time Wisconsin has won five-or-more matches in a dual and also marking the most bouts won in a dual this season.
-The Badgers recorded their third-straight win headed into the final dual of the season.
-For the second-straight year, UW ended Big Ten dual season with a win. The Badgers trumped Northwestern last season, 38-3.
-Wisconsin improved to 27-17-2 in the all-time series with Michigan State and 14-8-1 in duals in Madison.
-Hunter Ritter claimed his third-straight victory over a Big Ten opponent with his 5-4 decision.
-Isaac Jordan eclipsed the 20-win mark with his 3-2 decision.
-Connor Medbery matched his career high for Big Ten wins in a season with nine. 
-Sunday's dual will serve as senior day honoring one of the most decorated groups of seniors the Badgers have ever had. Santonio Cathery, Jarod Donar, Isaac Jordan, Rylan Lubeck, Connor Medbery, TJ Ruschell and Ryan Taylor will be honored at the match.
 

MAT TALK
"Overall, I'd say we did pretty good. We won eight out of 10 matches, so that's always good. We're always looking to go 10-for-10, so we're not quite where we want to be at, but it's something to improve on and we're looking forward to Sunday. Hopefully we can capitalize on the matches that we didn't win today and get big wins against a good team in Central Michigan." - Junior Ricky Robertson

"I told my coach before the match that I'm going to make sure I don't give up the first takedown. It's kind of been a little bit of a problem, starting kind of slow, and I can always put some pace up at the end because I'm in pretty good shape. It was definitely good to get out to a good start this match and not really have to come back for a third." -Andrew Crone

"We beat a Big Ten team. We won eight out of 10 weight classes. I felt like we saw a lot of the things we've been working on in practice and there's things that are recurrent issues that stopped us from maybe building on our leads or finishing matches the right way, things we've been talking about for a month now. It's time to straighten those out. We're going to talk about it tonight, talk about it tomorrow and come out ready Sunday against Central Michigan." -Associate head coach Trevor Brandvold

RESULTS
125: Johnny Jimenez dec. Logan Griffin, 7-4
133: Eli Stickley dec. Austin Eicher, 5-2
141: Javier Gasca fall Over Cole Martin (5:41)
149: Andrew Crone dec. Nick Trimble, 6-3
157: TJ Ruschell dec. Austin Thompson, 8-4
165: #3 Isaac Jordan dec. Drew Hughes, 3-2
174: Drew Barnes fall over Santonio Cathery (3:35)
184: Hunter Ritter dec. Shwan Shadaia, 5-4
197: #12 Ricky Robertson dec. Wesley Maskill, 7-2
Hwt.: #2 Connor Medbery TF over Jacob Cooper, 15-0 (4:11)