David Taylor details Oklahoma State overcoming 'adversity' in win over Arkansas-Little Rock

David Taylor knew Oklahoma State would face an interesting battle against Arkansas-Little Rock over the weekend.

The Trojans gave the Cowboys some trouble in their dual, but the No. 2 ranked squad in the nation came away with the win. After losing three of the first five bouts, Taylor’s wrestlers swept the final five to win 25-13.

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For Taylor, it was about who was going to step up when needed, especially trailing 13-8 at intermission.

“We’ve faced some adversity on the road the past couple of weeks,” Taylor said. “We faced some (adversity) today. My biggest challenge to our guys was who was going to step up. Who was going to step in and give us some momentum? Who was going to have a big moment?”

Taylor saw a big moment on the opposite sideline when Matty Bianchi pinned Caleb Fish at 157, putting Little Rock up at intermission.

“It’s a balanced lineup (that we have),” Taylor said. “It takes all 10 guys. Like we tell them, ‘Every single point matters.’ And (today) it mattered.”

Cam Amine, Dean Hamiti and Dustin Plott all got decision wins to put Oklahoma State up 17-13 with two bouts left. Then, 197 pounder Luke Surber upset Stephen Little 5-4 to put them up for good.

“We knew it would be a tough dual,” Taylor said. “(It) got a little bit tougher than what we had hoped, but that’s wrestling. We were able to figure it out at the end. Momentum was shifting back and forth, but we were tough on top and that resilience showed.

“We’d rather all these mistakes happen here (than in the postseason). But we’ll figure that stuff out.”

No. 2 Oklahoma State 25, No. 16 Little Rock 13

125: No. 4 Troy Spratley (OSU) TF Jayden Carson (LR), 18-1, 4:11
133: No. 8 Nasir Bailey (LR) MD No. 22 Reece Witcraft (OSU), 13-0
141: No. 5 Tagen Jamison (OSU) decision Brennan Van Hoecke (LR), 8-2
149: No. 12 Jordan Williams (LR) decision No. 17 Carter Young (OSU), TB-1 3-2
157: No. 17 Matty Bianchi (LR) fall No. 12 Caleb Fish (OSU), 5:26
165: No. 6 Cameron Amine (OSU) decision No. 33 Joseph Bianchi (LR), 4-2
174: No. 3 Dean Hamiti Jr. (OSU) decision Tyler Brennan (LR), 6-1
184: No. 3 Dustin Plott (OSU) decision No. 17 Brock DelSignore (LR), 8-2
197: No. 7 Luke Surber (OSU) decision No. 5 Stephen Little (LR), 5-4
HWT: No. 3 Wyatt Hendrickson (OSU) TF KJ Miley (LR), 16-1, 2:30