PHOTOS

STILLWATER — The Cowboys’ 30-point streak needed a hero, and luckily the Pokes have one at heavyweight.

Wyatt Hendrickson trotted to the mat with “Copperhead Road” ringing throughout Gallagher-Iba Arena. He pinned his opponent in less than a minute, did a backflip and secured Oklahoma State’s 30-12 win against West Virginia.

The Cowboys are 9-0 this season and have scored at least 30 points in all of those wins. The last time OSU started a season with at least nine 30-point performances was the 1987-88 season — the season John Smith won his second NCAA title as a wrestler. The Cowboys started with 10 in a row that season, so OSU has the opportunity to match that against a tough Northern Iowa team on Friday.

“A lot of what we just talked about in the locker room was being appreciative of these opportunities that we have,” OSU coach David Taylor said. “Every day I wake up and grateful to be coaching this program. And every day these guys come in the room, and they just gotta appreciate the opportunity to go out and compete in Gallagher, and pushing attendance, and having a product that people are excited to go and watch. …

“We want to represent a product and a style, the way wrestling should be done in its purest way. You got seven minutes to score. You score the entire time. If you’re not turning them, you’re cutting them and your tie ups and you’re getting another takedown. That’s what we do every day, and our guys are representing that when we go out there. And it’s leading to more team points, which is awesome.”

It wasn’t the best of days for the start of OSU’s lineup. The Mountaineers held a 12-11 lead through six matches, but the Pokes proved that in order to take them out in a dual, you’re going to need a massive lead going into those final four weights.

Dean Hamiti Jr. got the ball rolling with a 19-3 technical fall victory against Brody Conley at 174 pounds. Hamiti is super smooth. When the match first started, he momentarily grabbed Conley’s ankle without the two touching anywhere else. It didn’t end in a takedown, but drew a big “Ooooo” from the 8,257 in attendance. Hamiti scored a quintet of takedowns in the win.

Dustin Plott kept the pace, beating Dennis Robin with a 20-4 technical fall in just two periods. That second period alone saw Plott score four takedowns. Combined, Hamiti and Plott recorded 11 takedowns. The Mountaineers scored six takedowns the entire afternoon.

At 197, Luke Surber wrestled a tightly contested match against Ian Bush. Surber was down 3-2 entering the third, a period where he took Bush down and rode him. A riding-time point in the waning seconds earned Surber the victory. So, after trailing 12-11, the Pokes were up 24-12 leading into Hendrickson’s pin.

“In terms of the dual, it was a scrap,” Taylor said. “We found ourselves in some tough matches tonight. It was good for our team to experience that. We’ve got some tough upcoming matches. This is a tough sport. There are no easy days, no off days. I think if you’re gonna wrestle for a program like Oklahoma State, you’re gonna get the best of everybody. You’re gonna get the best of everybody. West Virginia, they were prepared tonight, and they scraped really hard.”

From a rankings standpoint, the match of the night was at 165 pounds, featuring No. 6 Cameron Amine vs. No. 3 Peyton Hall. The two met in the finals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational where Hall got the better of Amine. That happened again Sunday, which the Mountaineer beating the Cowboy 5-1.

To start the dual, Troy Spratley suffered his second consecutive loss when Jett Strickenberger pinned him in the first period. The 125-pound weight class is one that’s tough to be consistent in, but Spratley had climbed up to No. 2 in the national standings before losing to NC State’s Vince Robinson last week. Spratley was at No. 4 entering this match. Despite the back-to-back Ls, Spratley is still 12-3 on the season.

Cael Hughes got the call at 133 pounds, as his battle with Reece Witcraft goes on. Hughes pinned No. 7 Kai Orine in the NC State dual, but he found himself in a scrap with Tommy Maddox, who entered Sunday’s dual at just 1-5 this season. The match went into sudden victory after Maddox scored on a third-period takedown. Hughes looked tired, but he came through in the clutch, scoring a takedown in sudden victory to get the Cowboys on the board.

That led into an eventful first period for Tagen Jamison at 141 pounds. Jamison’s headgear broke early in the match. He went to the corner and tried a few different pairs on before reemerging while someone ran to the locker room to get his backup. He ended up wearing three different pairs of headgear in the first period alone. His opponent, Jordan Titus, was also getting a little handsy. Jamison took a shot to the head before the official blew the whistle to put a stop to things just for Titus to give Jamison a two-hand shove to the chest. That all happened in the first period.

Jamison kept his composure, though, and ended up beating Titus with a 14-4 major decision.

“I’m pretty composed as a person, so it’s not hard,” Jamison said. “But everybody has something in them that they want to shove right back, but you just gotta stay smart and control the match. I feel like that’s what I did.”

Results

Post-Dual News Conference

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A full student section stormed the court. Four Mountaineers jumped up to stand on the scorers table. Hugs, handshakes and high fives were exchanged by members of the WVU coaching staff.

West Virginia collected their third victory this season over a Top 10 team in a 64-57 triumph over Iowa State in front of a sellout crowd Saturday at the Coliseum.

An announced crowd of 14,444 on Jerry West Day did their part to get the Mountaineers over the line in the final minutes as they closed the game on a 15-8 run over the final three minutes.

“It was amazing,” said WVU fifth year center Eduardo Andre. “They get you going. When they are yelling, you want to go even harder. You don’t get tired because you are feeding off the crowd. That’s what we need every game. We need a sold-out crowd every game.”

“I am excited for our fan base,” said WVU head coach Darian DeVries. “They had a hand in this one tonight. There’s some very tough places to play in the Big 12. We want our place to certainly be one of them. I felt like it was tonight and the crowd did their part. We had to do our part. But I thought the crowd was very engaged and helped us down the stretch.”

Wren Baker and Darian DeVries celebrate WVU’s 64-57 win over No. 2 Iowa State: pic.twitter.com/opIkwtkck8

— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) January 19, 2025

Senior guard Javon Small made just one of his first six shots from the floor in the game but he scored a dozen consecutive points in the closing stretch. Small finished the contest making 9-of-16 shots from the floor with 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.

“He is the Big 12 Player of the Year,” Andre said.

“It is not all about scoring for me. It is just whatever I’ve got to do to help my teammates,” Small said.”

“Like a lot of great players, and it is really fun when you are a coach of one of those, you can tell when they are in that zone,” DeVries said. “You can see it in his eyes. He wanted to take that game over. He even had another three with three minutes to go. I have seen Javon in practice and in games, when he gets in a zone, he is really, really good.”

After a 1-1 week, the Mountaineers will almost certainly reenter the AP Top 25 poll on Monday. West Virginia (13-4, 4-2 Big 12) is tied for fourth in the Big 12 standings and they check in at No. 30 in Sunday’s NCAA NET ratings.

If the Mountaineers can maintain their level of play throughout the second half of their regular season schedule, an NCAA Tournament berth seems very much in reach.

“Like we have talked about with our team from day one, don’t limit yourself on anything. We’re going to come and we’re going to compete. These are the things we feel like we need to be good at to win. Let’s go try and do that,” DeVries said.

“I have never been a guy that was like, ‘Hey, we need to win this many games to be successful’. It is more about how we can maximize this group. If you can do that, your goal is that those wins follow. I think our guys are giving us everything they’ve got. They don’t play perfect every night and I don’t ask them to do that. Just leave it out there. They’ve done a great job of doing that so far this season.”

“We understand how big and how important the game was,” said Small. “We just can’t come out here on Tuesday against Arizona State and blow it off. We just have to keep building up momentum and racking up dubs.”

HOUSTON — — J’Wan Roberts scored a season-high 22 points, L.J. Cryer added 18 and No. 10 Houston beat West Virginia 70-54 on Wednesday night for its ninth straight win.

Roberts had 17 points in the first half on 8-of-10 shooting. Emanuel Sharp, who finished with 14 points, added 12 as Houston took a 40-27 lead into halftime.

Houston (13-3, 5-0 Big 12) shot 49% overall and was 11 of 26 on 3-pointers in winning its 32nd straight home game.

Amani Hansberry scored 16 points and Javon Small added 13 points and eight assists for West Virginia (12-4, 3-2). The Mountaineers shot 44% and were 9 of 22 on 3-pointers.

After trailing 18-13, Houston used a 20-3 run to open a 12-point lead on Roberts’ hook shot with 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half.

Takeaways

West Virginia: Small, who leads the Big 12 in scoring with 19.8 points per game, started 3 for 4 from the field — including three 3-pointers in the first six minutes as the Mountaineers built a five-point lead. But he went 1 for 7 the rest of the way and was scoreless in the second half as Houston pressured him.

Houston: The Cougars improved to 1/3 in Quad 1 games this season. Houston could have at least another 10 opportunities for Quad 1 wins over its final 15 regular-season games.

Key moment

West Virginia used a 12-2 run to cut Houston’s lead to 51-48, but the Cougars responded with a 14-0 spurt that started with a putback dunk by Ja’Vier Francis. The spree was capped by a 3 from Milos Uzan to give Houston a 17-point lead with seven minutes left.

Key stat

The Cougars forced 12 turnovers and converted them into 25 points.

Up next

Houston visits Central Florida on Saturday, and West Virginia hosts No. 2 Iowa State the same day.

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