DEKALB, Ill. - SIUE wrestling took Northern Illinois to the final match of the night to decide the victory in the regular season finale. The Huskies defeated the Cougars 22-13 in a Mid-American Conference match.

Ryan Yarnell's 11-2 major decision at 197 pounds over Sean Carroll pulled SIUE to within three team points heading into the final match. Jacobi Jackson sealed the win for NIU in the 285-pound match over the Cougars' Dan McKiernan.

"It was a really close dual all the way," said SIUE Head Coach Jeremy Spates. "We had shots at the first three weights to win and didn't finish a couple of shots. We still came back and gave ourselves a shot to win the dual."

After dropping the first three matches by a combined total of seven points, SIUE's Caleb Tyus put the Cougars on the scoreboard with a 5-0 decision at 149 pounds over Jaivon Jones.

The Cougars also picked up wins by Bradley Gillum at 165 pounds, an 8-4 win over Tommy Bennett, and Deron Pulliam at 184 pounds with a4-1  overtime thriller over Matt Zuber.

"Overall, I was proud of how the guys wrestled," said Spates. "We have few a few things technically. For a young team, we have gotten better as the year has gone on."

Northern Illinois 22 SIUE 13
125-Blake West (NIU) over Davian Guanajuato (SIUE) (Dec 4-3)
133-Mikey Kaminski (NIU) over Marcel Lopez (SIUE) (Dec 5-3)
141-Jacob Brya (NIU) over Eric Almarinez (SIUE) (Dec 7-3)
149-Caleb Tyus (SIUE) over Jaivon Jones (NIU) (Dec 5-0)
157-Munktulga Zuunbayan (NIU) over Caine Tyus (SIUE) (MD 13-4)
165-Bradley Gillum (SIUE) over Tommy Bennett (NIU) (Dec 8-4)
174-Ricardo Salinas (NIU) over Dominic Lopez (SIUE) (Dec 8-4)
184-Deron Pulliam (SIUE) over Matt Zuber (NIU) (SV-1 4-1)
197-Ryan Yarnell (SIUE) over Sean Carroll (NIU) (MD 11-2)
285-Jacobi Jackson (NIU) over Dan McKiernan (SIUE) (Fall 1:33)