The Sycamore wrestling team’s season came to an end Tuesday in the Class 2A Washington Dual Team Sectional, 42-27, to Rock Island.
Coach Alex Nelson said he was proud of the season the his team had, which included a 19-9 record in duals, a regular-season Interstate 8 conference championship, a Class 2A Sycamore Regional title and two medalists, including runner-up Brayden Peet.
“There’s a lot to be proud of as a team,” Nelson said. “Not everyone gets an opportunity to win conference, or win a regional title, or qualify for state. And it was nice to have those things back. We lost an entire year of that. So it was nice to give them an opportunity to achieve these goals.”
The Spartans won two matches on the mat, with Jackson Fudnerberg recording a pin at 220 and Lincoln Cooley notching a 9-6 win.
But by the time the match got around to the heart of the Spartans lineup, Rock Island had clinched the win and forfeited the rest of the matches. Peet, Zack Crawford and Gus Cambier didn’t get a chance to wrestle one last time.
“It’s unfortunate those guys didn’t get to wrestle one last time, but that’s how the game is played,” Nelson said. “I would have done the same thing in that position. You have to try and stay healthy for state. ... It was good to see Jackson go out on a win, Lincoln as well. Obviously, it’s unfortunate Brayden didn’t get one more, but that’s how these go.”
Men’s Basketball
Eastern Michigan 74, NIU 72: The Huskies erased a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes only to see Eastern Michigan reclaim the lead and take the victory.
Keshawn Williams scored a team-high 24 points for the Huskies (8-18, 5-11), while Trendon Hankerson and Kaleb Thornton each added 10 points.
After the Eagles increased their lead to 11 in the second half, NIU used an 8-1 run to pull within four with just under 12 minutes to play. Williams made four-straight free throws and added a field goal before Adong Makuoi cleaned up an offensive rebound with a dunk to trim the EMU advantage to 58-54.
The Huskie run reached 12-1 as Makuoi made another bucket and Williams added two more from the line to tie the game at 58 with 9:57 to play.
With the game tied at 60, Eastern Michigan (10-18, 5-12) used an 11-2 run to take a 71-62 lead with a little more than four minutes remaining.
NIU answered right back with the next nine points to tie the game at 71. Williams scored the first five before Hunter made a pair of free throws to get the Huskies within two points. Thornton then scored off the window to pull NIU even with 2:03 left.
The Huskies made it 10 straight points when Williams made a free throw with 1:18 remaining to give the Huskies a 72-71 lead.
Eastern Michigan broke the NIU scoring run with a basket to move back in front by one with just under a minute to play. On the following NIU possession, the Huskies came up empty, and the Eagles escaped with the victory.
Farrakhan finished with 31 points to lead the way for Eastern Michigan, Mo Njie added 16 points. The Eagles shot 58.7% (27 of 46) from the field for the game.