SATURDAY MARCH 23 2019
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Slow start, strong finish
Penn State's Bo Nickal pins Princeton's Patrick Brucki in the 197-pound semifinal bout at the NCAA Division 1 Wrestling championships on Friday at PPG Paints Arena.
What Penn State wrestlers
will face in championships
BY LAUREN MUTHLER
lmuthler@centredaily.com
PITTSBURGH
Some of the matches may have
been too close for comfort for the
Penn State faithful, but the Nitta-
ny Lions found a way to get it
done Friday night at PPG Paints
Arena in the semifinals of the
NCAA Wrestling Championships.
Penn State sent five out of six
finalists — in Jason Nolf, Vincen-
zo Joseph, Mark Hall, Bo Nickal
and Anthony Cassar — into Sat-
urday night’s NCAA finals, tying
Penn State’s all-time record.
Here’s what to look forward to
in Penn State’s championship
matchups:
157-POUND CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 1 Jason Nolf (Penn State)
vs. No. 2 Tyler Berger (Nebras-
ka)
Having just wrestled to the
closest win in his collegiate ca-
reer, Nolf will now face an oppo-
nent in Nebraska’s Berger who is
BIG TEN HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
How Penn State hockey is preparing for
Notre Dame in Saturday’s game
BY STEVE SAMPSELL
For the CDT
For 5-foot-11, 190-pound Penn
State forward Evan Barratt, suc-
cessful hockey results from ag-
gressiveness, grit and intelli-
gence.
Barratt knows all those things
matter as he and his teammates
prepare to face Notre Dame in
the Big Ten Tournament cham-
pionship game Saturday night.
Led by a top line of Barratt,
Alex Limoges and Liam Folkes,
Penn State has maintained its
offensive mindset throughout the
tournament. At the same time,
Notre Dame prefers a more mea-
sured style of play, backstopped
by goalie Cale Morris, who is 5-0
SEE BIG TEN, 5B
1B
out for blood.
After his win over Iowa’s Kaleb
Young in the NCAA semifinals,
Berger raised his five fingers in
the air and counted down, “5, 4,
3, 2 ...,” then looked over at Nolf,
who was still wrestling, and
pointed his finals digit: “1.” The
gesture was clearly in reference
to his tweet that he’d be “taking
five heads home with me after
the NCAA tournaments and, yes,
that includes Jason Nolf’s.”
“I’m going to go out there to
tear his head off, and I’m sure
he’s going to do the same with
me,” the Cornhusker said after
his win. “I would expect nothing
less.”
Despite the close match, which
included a seconds-left takedown
attempt from N.C. State’s Hay-
den Hidlay that nearly spoiled
Nolf’s championship dreams, the
two-time national champ was
calm and cool as ever in his post-
match press conference.
“Just didn’t have the offense
SEE PENN STATE, 5B
Penn State goalie Peyton Jones makes a save during a game against
Notre Dame on Feb. 2, 2018, at Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State sends 5 to NCAA
wrestling championships
Penn State's Mark Hall celebrates his win over Michigan's Myles Amine
in the 174-pound semifinal bout on Friday at PPG Paints Arena.
PHOEBE SHEEHAN psheehan@centredaily.com
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NCAA TOURNAMENT
TOM IZZO’S ONE SHINING
MOMENT WAS
DOWNRIGHT
EMBARRASSING 2B
NCAA TOURNAMENT
No. 13 seed UC Irvine
upsets Kansas State for
first NCAA Tournament win
BY JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press
SAN JOSE, CALIF.
When it comes to college bas-
ketball in California, UC Irvine is
low on the totem pole.
Now the program that some-
times feels like a little brother to
Pac-12 powers like UCLA and USC
is the only school from the state
still standing in the NCAA Tourna-
ment after pulling off a stunner.
The 13th-seeded Anteaters got
back-to-back 3-pointers from Evan
Leonard to spark the deciding run
in a 70-64 upset Friday over No. 4
seed Kansas State for the first
tournament win in school history.
“Well, little brother has been in
PHOTOS BY ABBY DREY adrey@centredaily.com
BY NATE COBLER
ncobler@centredaily.com
PITTSBURGH
Penn State’s second day at the
NCAA Wrestling Championships
started off a little rocky — but
finished with flair.
The Nittany Lions sent five
wrestlers to the finals in Jason
Nolf (157 pounds), Vincenzo
Joseph (165), Mark Hall (174), Bo
Nickal (197) and Anthony Cassar
(285). Yes, Roman Bravo-Young
locked up an All-America spot at
133 pounds. However, Brady
Berge (149) and Shakur Rasheed
(184) were eliminated.
Even better news for Penn
State fans: The Nittany Lions
lead the team race with 120.5
points. The Nittany Lions are 32
points ahead of Ohio State, which
means the team title could be
clinched Saturday morning.
SEE WRESTLING, 4B
the weight room, getting better,
getting ready for a chance like
this,” coach Russell Turner said.
“So I’m really happy for these
players to be able to work so hard
for something everybody can see
and then accomplish it. But I’m
also really excited for the fans of
our program who also seem to
have endured feeling like little
brothers. You know, we need to
stick our chests out a little bit right
now.”
UC Irvine (31-5) had lost its only
previous tournament game, 57-55
to Louisville in 2015. But the Ant-
eaters got a longer stay this time
after taking control of the game
with a 12-0 run midway through
SEE UC IRVINE, 3B