ASU wrestling hoped to snap their two-match losing skid Sunday at Wells Fargo Arena against Oregon State.
Instead, the Sun Devils added to the streak with a 32-18 defeat at the hands of the Beavers. Over the past several weeks, a pair of freshman owned the highlights of the day for the struggling Sun Devils.
Redshirt freshman Shane McGough pinned 17th-ranked Garrett Drucker to tie the match 6-6 early, and true freshman Jacob Graham overcame a third-period deficit in his match to also score a pin.
In the wake of the loss, ASU head coach Shawn Charles knows the struggles are all part of a learning curve for this young 2012 team.
“When McGough pinned his guy, that really got everybody off the bench. It got everybody energized,” Charles said. “McGough’s done that a few times for us this year. He goes out there, gets the crowd excited (and) gets the guys on the bench excited. That’s huge.”
Charles was also highly complimentary of Graham, a wrestler that epitomizes what can happen when the Sun
Devils buy into what the ASU staff is selling.
“Graham going out there as a true freshman, battling the way he did and getting that fall is big,” Charles said. “One of the big things I’ll say about Graham is that he listens and he wrestles hard. He’s actually trying out the things that we’re teaching him, so good things are always going to happen.” Graham knew he was in an extremely tough spot in the last period of his match when he was down by four points and flipped onto his back by his opponent. Graham instead did exactly what Charles and company teaches wrestlers to do: Never quit on the mat.
“I got tossed on my back, which wasn’t the greatest, but I knew if I kept wrestling I could come back,” Graham said. “(Then) I got the reversal, took him to his back. There was only a short time left, so I knew I had to get the pin if I was going to win the match.”
Graham earned his first collegiate dual meet victory, but his pin couldn’t do much to cut into the enormous 26-6 lead the Beavers held. Still, Graham’s pin gave his team a newfound burst of momentum, as the next two Sun Devil grapplers — true freshman Kevin Radford and redshirt freshman Tommy Burriel — each recorded a win.
“I haven’t been performing as well as I’d like to,” Graham said. “It was nice to finally make all the hard work payoff and boost the morale of the team.”
Despite the four pins surrendered by ASU on Sunday and a tough past month for the Sun Devils overall, Charles remained optimistic going forward.
“As far as our team, we’re definitely getting better, we’re improving,” Charles said. “The reality for us is the falls in dual-meet situations. It’s something that we have to correct as a program.” ASU is now set to travel to Hampton, Va. for the Virginia Duels this Friday and Saturday.
Reach the reporter at kjnewma2@asu.edu
