Ben Hepburn picked up a huge win for the Bald Eagles in the nights most exciting match, downing Bloom's Eric Shaw 3-1 in overtime.

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - The Lock Haven University wrestling team (8-7, 1-4 EWL) was edged 22-16 by Bloomsburg University (6-7-1, 3-1 EWL) tonight at home in Thomas Fieldhouse in Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) dual meet action.

Each team won five individual bouts as the Bald Eagles made a strong push late to win the match, but came up just short.

After a Bloomsburg win at 165, LHU was down 17-6, but the Bald Eagles rattled off three straight wins to leave it a one-point match heading into the heavyweight bout with the Huskies up 17-16.

Lock Haven found itself trailing early, but freshman Billy Ashnault (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield) quickly changed that, picking up a 3-1 win over BU’s Jason Gauffey at 133 and evening the team score at 3-3.

After a scoreless first period Ashnault earned an escape with 58 second to go in the second and added a late takedown to take a 3-0 lead into the third period. That would be all the scoring the rookie needed as he picked up his fifth win of the year.

Owen Wilkinson (Beverly Hills, Fla./Hartland), another true-freshman in the lineup for the Bald Eagles lost a tough 2-0 battle with Bloom’s Darren Kern at 141.

Kern’s win put the Huskies up 7-3, but again the Bloomsburg lead was short lived.

Redshirt-junior Matt Fittery (Denver, Pa./Cocalico) picked up his team-leading 19th win of the year cutting the BU lead to just one point, 7-6.

Fittery dominated George Hickman of Bloomsburg and eventually won 8-2, improving to 19-8 on the season.

The Haven trailed 17-6 after losses at 157 and 165, but Lock Haven wouldn’t go away and responded in a big way with three straight wins.

Junior Tom Kocher (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township), sophomore Jeremie Cook (Venice, Fla./Venice) and redshirt-junior Ben Hepburn (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock) earned wins for LHU at 174, 184 and 197, respectively.

Kocher got the Bald Eagles a valuable bonus point as he earned the major decision over Brian Shaw, 12-4.

Kocher scored two first period takedowns to set the tone in his match while Cook dominated BU’s Jessue Hasseman on the way to a 3-0 win.

Hepburn took part in one the night’s most exciting bouts, needing overtime to edge Eric Shaw.

Hepburn and Shaw’s bout was tied 1-1 after seven minutes of wrestling, but Hepburn only needed three seconds in overtime to earn the winning takedown.

Lock Haven fought back and trailed by only one going into the night’s final bout, but freshman Dan Craig (Paw Paw, Mich./Allegan lost to the nation’s ninth ranked heavyweight in Bloom’s Mike Spaid.

The Bald Eagles hit the mat again tomorrow night (Saturday, Feb. 16) when they travel to Clarion University for their final EWL dual of the season.

Individual matches:

125: #7 Mike Sees (BU) major dec. John Trumbetti (LHU) 12-2

133: Billy Ashnault (LHU) dec. Jason Gauffey (BU) 3-1

141: Darren Kern (BU) dec. Owen Wilkinson (LHU) 2-0

149: Matt Fittery (LHU) dec. George Hickman (BU) 8-2

157: #18 Matt Moley (BU) major dec. John Mangini (LHU) 14-4

165: Rickey Schmelyun (BU) pinned Derek Caldwell (LHU) 1:26

174: Tom Kocher (LHU) major dec. Brain Shaw (BU) 12-4

184: Jeremie Cook (LHU) dec. Jesse Hasseman (BU) 3-0

197: Ben Hepburn (LHU) dec. Eric Shaw (BU) 3-1 OT

HWT: # Mike Spaid (BU) tech. fall Dan Craig (LHU) 16-0 4:52

Bloomsburg 22 – LHU 16

LHU (8-7, 1-4 EWL)

Bloom (6-7-1, 3-1 EWL)