Following a close matchup against Columbia on Friday, the Binghamton wrestling team took on the U.S. Naval Academy at home on Sunday afternoon. The teams were neck and neck heading into the final few bouts, but a narrow 4-2 decision by No. 15 redshirt senior Lou DePrez in the 197-pound event sealed the 19-16 victory for BU.

“We need to start winning close matches and in the fall, in a lot of these dual meets that we lost, we lost a lot of overtime matches, one-point matches, and today and on Friday, we saw that dynamic change,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “I’ve been talking about it all year. When you win close matches you win dual meets, and we did that today.”

DePrez’s bout began with a takedown by the Binghamton (7-9, 5-1 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association [EIWA]) athlete, followed by an escape from his Navy (3-5, 1-4 EIWA) opponent. During the first period, DePrez picked up an injury to his knee and was forced to battle out the remainder of the bout in medical tape.

“We had wrestled that guy earlier in the season and dominated him 12-2,” Borshoff said. “[DePrez] got a little bit injured in his bout today and he fought through it to get the win … It was dirty wrestling, and you’re allowed to do that. You hear their coaches yelling out from the corner ‘Twist his knee, twist out his ankle,’ that’s dirty wrestling. [DePrez] got through it found a way to win despite that guy’s best effort to make that match an injury default. It was sickening to watch.”

The Navy 197-pounder took the match to overtime where DePrez emerged victorious following a final takedown to put Binghamton out of reach for the away side. The ensuing heavyweight matchup featuring sophomore Collin Burns on the Bearcat side resulted in a 17-5 major decision in favor of Navy.

“The guys that lost, they fought hard, they did a good job not giving up bonus points, putting us in a position going into heavyweight we had options today,” Borshoff said. “We were able to make that decision because of the way the nine guys wrestled.”

The meet began with true freshman Nick Curley and senior Anthony Sobotker dropping their matchups at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively. Curley’s bout finished 5-0 and Sobotker fought a closer battle in his 4-1 defeat to No. 21 Navy true freshman Josh Koderhandt.

Sophomore Ryan Anderson earned Binghamton’s first points in the 141-pound event after earning a decisive 8-0 major decision against his opponent. The victory by the Bearcat added four points to Binghamton’s score, closing down Navy’s six-point lead to just two.

“I didn’t know [Nick Lombard] was gonna wrestle until I came into the tunnel and saw him in his singlet ready to go,” Borshoff said. “We got a lot of guys that are banged up and there are times where you wanna say let’s rest the guys, keep them healthy and get ready for March. But there’s a lot of pride on the line in conference duals … Beating a team like Navy who’s been one of the top teams in the conference for the past few years is really important for us and [Lombard] was a huge part of that today.”

Although 157-pound sophomore Tyler Martin was pinned in his matchup and conceded six points to the opposing team, Binghamton swept the following three bouts. Sophomore Brevin Cassella won the 165-pound event with a 4-1 decision and was followed by a 1-0 victory by 174-pound junior Jacob Nolan after the Bearcat rode out the advantage. The two tallied six points collectively to put Binghamton up 13-12 overall with three bouts to go.

At 184 pounds, redshirt sophomore Cory Day hit the mats to wrestle No. 29 Navy sophomore David Key who competed against DePrez at the EIWA Championships last season. After three difficult periods of wrestling, Day came out on top against the nationally ranked opponent to improve to 11-3 overall this season. The 6-4 decision gave Binghamton another three points, stretching its lead to 16-12.

“For [Day] to come out and continue winning clutch matches like that is huge,” Borshoff said. “We’re wrestling great on the mat right now. People should be afraid to wrestle us on the mat.”

Binghamton’s next matchup against Cornell is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 12. The first bout is set for 1 p.m. at the Friedman Wrestling Center in Ithaca, New York.