BROOKINGS, S.D. – Utah Valley University redshirt freshman Kimball Bastian led the way for the Wolverine wrestling team on Saturday evening by earning a 3-1 upset victory over No. 15 David Kocer. Despite Bastian's big victory, UVU couldn't pull out its second straight win over a ranked Big 12 Conference opponent in as many nights as it fell to No. 19 South Dakota State, 29-10, at Frost Arena in Brookings.
 
The Wolverines drop to 5-4 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 action with the setback, while the top-20 Jackrabbits improve to 12-3 on the season and remain in second place in the Big 12 standings with a 6-1 league record.
 
"We had some great efforts in a few of the matches tonight. Kimball's was an especially big win, beating a highly ranked opponent," head coach Greg Williams said. "There were a few weights where we didn't wrestle with intensity through the whole match and that hurt us. Our team has been doing some really positive things this year. We need to keep building on that."
 
With the 31st-ranked Bastian and 15th-ranked and 2016 NCAA qualifier Kocer all tied up at 1-1 with an escape apiece at the end of regulation, the Wolverine 174-pounder was the aggressor in the opening sudden victory period as he got deep in on a single-leg attack just a few seconds into the opening overtime round. Bastian then managed to convert the single-leg shot into a takedown to defeat the higher ranked foe by a score of 3-1. The victory marked Bastian's fifth consecutive win and his 19th of the season (19-9).
 
In all the Wolverines won a total of three of the 10 matches on the night, as 141-pound senior Trevor Willson and junior heavyweight Dustin Dennison also won their respective bouts. Willson led the duo by winning his second match of the road trip by major decision by defeating SDSU's Isaac Andrade by a score of 14-5, while Dennison won his ninth straight match and 20th of the season (20-6) with a tightly contested 6-5 decision over Alex Macki.
 
With the dual meet beginning at 165 pounds, SDSU's 17th-ranked Luke Zilverberg got the Jacks off to a strong start with a 12-4 major decision over UVU freshman Koy Wilkinson to give SDSU a 4-0 lead. That's when Bastian countered back with his big upset win over No. 15 Kocer to cut the deficit to just a point at 4-3.  South Dakota State then answered back with a decision win from Martin Mueller (184 pounds) and a first-period fall from two-time NCAA qualifier and seventh-ranked Nate Rotert (197) to extend its lead to 13-3.
 
UVU heavyweight Dennison then managed to score four of the last five points of his match to record his 6-5 win to trim the team score to 13-6 before SDSU's Ben Gillette (125) answered with a 7-6 decision of his own over UVU 125-pounder Mitch Brown and the 2016 NCAA qualifier and second-ranked Seth Gross (133) followed with the Jacks' second fall of the night to extend their lead to 22-6. That's when senior 141-pounder Willson answered for Utah Valley with his 14-5 major decision over SDSU's Andrade to cut the score to 22-10. That's as close as the Wolverines would get the rest of the way, however, as South Dakota State went on to win the final two bouts with victories from No. 19 Alex Kocer (149) and Logan Peterson (157) to take the conference dual by a score of 29-10.
 
Despite dropping the meet, UVU still holds an 8-4 all-time series advantage over the Jackrabbits. The Wolverines also finish the road trip with a 1-1 weekend split after pulling out a 22-16 upset over No. 23 North Dakota State on Friday evening in Fargo.
 
UVU will now return home to close its regular season against No. 22 Stanford and Big 12 Conference foe Northern Colorado next week. The Wolverines and the Pac-12 Cardinal will first do battle on Friday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. at Utah Valley's newly named Lockhart Arena before UVU welcomes the UNC Bears to town on Saturday, Feb. 11 for a 3 p.m. contest.
 
No. 19 South Dakota State 29, Utah Valley 10
165: #17 Luke Zilverberg (SDSU) MD Koy Wilkinson (UVU), 12-4
174: #31 Kimball Bastian (UVU) Dec. #15 David Kocer (SDSU), 3-1 (SV-1)
184: Martin Mueller (SDSU) Dec. Will Sumner (UVU), 7-4
197: #7 Nate Rotert (SDSU) Fall #24 Tanner Orndorff (UVU), 2:38
285: Dustin Dennison (UVU) Dec. Alex Macki (SDSU), 6-5
125: Ben Gillette (SDSU) Dec. Mitch Brown (UVU), 7-6
133: #2 Seth Gross (SDSU) Fall Jarod Maynes (UVU), 4:28
141: Trevor Willson (UVU) MD Isaac Andrade (SDSU), 14-5
149: #19 Alex Kocer (SDSU) Dec. Grant LaMont (UVU), 9-2
157: Logan Peterson (SDSU) MD Raider Lofthouse (UVU), 12-4
 
Attendance: 854