COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Old Dominion wrestling team (4-9, 0-4 MAC) fell to the fifth-ranked Missouri Tigers, 29-6, Sunday afternoon in Columbia, Missouri. All-American Jack Dechow impressed by picking up his fifth major decision of the year while Austin Coburn bumped up to 285 and earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory.
"Our guys fought hard today, but we just got beat by a better team," head coach Steve Martin said. "You have to give Mizzou credit. Dechow and Coburn did a good job focusing on what they had to do to put points on the board. Our guys have to also understand how to use the new pushout rules to their advantage. Mecate and Richardson kept it too close and need to do a better job of understanding the environment they are in. They cannot let the pushouts and stall calls determine matches. We have a lot of wrestling left in the season, and we need to learn from this experience. Our schedule is very tough, and it will get our kids ready for the NCAA tournament in March."
Beginning at 141, Missouri's eighth-ranked Matt Manley was awarded a stalling point to go up 2-1 over No. 13 Chris Mecate in the final 30 seconds of the bout and sealed the win with a takedown late in the final period to put the Tigers up 3-0. Third-ranked Lavion Mayes remained unbeaten on the season after defeating No. 8 Alexander Richardson, 2-1, on the strength of two controversial stalling points at 149.
Senior LeRoy Barnes kept the Tigers' momentum rolling with a 10-5 decision over Austin Eads at 157. Eads scored a takedown and two nearfall points in the first period, but Barnes responded with a reversal and consecutive sets of nearfall points to take the match. Fifth-ranked Daniel Lewis then propelled Mizzou to a 13-0 dual meet lead with an 8-0 major decision over Seldon Wright at 165.
Heading into the intermission, Missouri's No. 10 Blaise Butler racked up two takedowns in the final period to earn an 11-3 major decision over Brooks Climmons to put the Tigers up 17-0 at the break.
Jack Dechow got the Monarchs on the board at 184, putting on a takedown clinic to upend Cody Johnston, 14-4. ODU forfeited at 197 to 2014 NCAA Champion J'den Cox, but Austin Coburn bumped up to 285 and picked up a 3-2 decision victory over James Romero on the strength of a third period reversal and riding time point.
At 125, Mizzou's No. 10 Barlow McGhee snapped Brandon Jeske's seven-match winning streak with a third period takedown and two nearfall to defeat the Monarch junior, 6-3.
In the final bout of the afternoon, Josh Markham battled No. 13 Zach Synon down to the wire but surrendered a late takedown to fall, 3-0.
ODU fell to 4-9 and 0-3 in the MAC while Missouri improved to 11-1 and 7-0 in the MAC for the season.
Next up, ODU will host Navy on Friday, Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ted Constant Center on Military Appreciation Day.
#5 Missouri 29, Old Dominion 6
141: #8 Matt Manley (MIZZ) dec. #13 Chris Mecate (ODU), 4-1
149: #3 Lavion Mayes (MIZZ) dec. #8 Alexander Richardson (ODU), 2-1
157: LeRoy Barnes (MIZZ) dec. Austin Eads (ODU), 10-5
165: #5 Daniel Lewis (MIZZ) maj. Seldon Wright (ODU), 8-0
174: #10 Blaise Butler (MIZZ) maj. Brooks Climmons (ODU), 11-3
184: #4 Jack Dechow (ODU) maj. Cody Johnston (MIZZ) 14-4
197: #2 J'den Cox (MIZZ) won by forfeit
285: Austin Coburn (ODU) dec. James Romero (MIZZ), 3-2
125: #10 Barlow McGhee (MIZZ) dec. Brandon Jeske (ODU), 6-3
133: #13 Zach Synon (MIZZ) dec. Josh Markham (ODU), 3-0
*ODU deducted one team point for successive bench warnings