For the second Friday in a row the dual rested in the hands of No. 24 Jaron Smith. This time his opponent was No. 26 Cory Day.
After a 0-0 first period, Smith jumped out in the second scoring a reversal and earning some valuable riding time. In the third period, Day countered with a reversal of his own, tying the score 2-2. The deciding factor was the riding time, which was awarded to Smith.
“We all trust each other. So when we get in those tight matches its always we got Jaron [Smith] and Jaxon [Smith] at the end,” said Kal Miller.
Maryland won the dual 19-12.
The Terps came into this matchup with a record of 9-8. The Terps earned their first Big Ten win of the season against Purdue last weekend, their first since 2016.
Maryland hoped to break another record in this dual. Maryland hasn’t ended the regular season with double digit victories since the 2012-2013 season. A win against Binghamton would end that streak.
No. 15 Braxton Brown got the Terps started winning his bout by decision. Brown scored three points in the third period of the bout to get the Terps on the board first.
King Sandoval lost the next bout 4-1 to Anthony Sobotker. Sandoval’s only point in the bout came from a stalling call on Sobotker.
The 141 bout was a rematch from the Southern Scuffle. Kal Miller and Christian Gannone took the mat for the second time, the first resulting in a 7-2 win for Miller. Not much changed in the second meeting.
Miller had two takedowns and added an escape and riding time to win the bout 6-1.
“He [Kal Miller] was aggressive, he got to his offense and he was constantly going forward and taking ground and getting to his positions and he’s tough on top,” said head coach Alex Clemsen. “So when he does those two things well, good things will happen.”
No. 18 Ethen Miller dominated the 149 bout winning, 11-0. Miller had three takedowns in the bout and added two near fall points. Miller’s win earned Maryland its first bonus point of the dual, putting the Terps ahead 10-3.
“He’s [Ethen Miller] a freight train. When you think about how a freight train gets started and leaves the station, it’s like chug a chug a chug a chug a and it’s like now we need to get going,” said Clemsen. “Then all of the sudden you’re flying and that trains hard to stop when it’s running.”
Michael North won his bout over a familiar opponent in Conner Decker. The two wrestled at the Southern Scuffle with North coming away victorious. North repeated the result winning the bout 2-0.
After rattling off three straight bout victories, John Martin Best couldn’t make it four. No. 31 Brevin Cassella had a takedown in the first and an escape in the third. Cassella won the bout 4-1, lowering the Binghamton deficit to seven.
The 174 bout was another win for Binghamton. Sam DePrez had two takedowns in the first period to put him up 4-1, then 4-2 after two periods. In the third period DePrez escaped, but Solis followed it with a takedown. Solis couldn’t come up with the tying takedown, losing the bout, 7-4.
Binghamton rivaled the Terps’ three bout run with one of their own. No. 23 Jacob Nolan shut out Kevin Makosy in the 184 bout. Nolan had two takedowns in the bout, winning by decision.
The win brought the team score to 13-12 in favor of Maryland going into the last two bouts of the dual.
No. 13 Jaxon Smith created some breathing room for Maryland, beating Dimitri Gamkrelidze by decision. Smith got out to a strong lead in the first period scoring two takedowns. Smith added another takedown in the third period to secure his ninth dual win of the season.
This win brings Maryland’s record to 10-8. This is the first time the Terps have had double digit wins in a season since the 2012-2013 season.
The Terps will close out the regular season on Sunday when they take on Columbia.
