Minot, N.D. -- Four bonus victories including a fall by Bryce FitzPatrick lifted No. 4 St. Cloud State its first NSIC victory of the season as they topped host Minot State 29-9 at the MSU Dome on Friday night.

In addition to FitzPatrick's fall at 184 pounds, No. 12 Alyeus Craig and top-ranked Nick Novak earned technical falls, while fourth-ranked Dominic Murphy picked up a major decision at 197 pounds to pace coach Steve Costanzo's squad.

The Huskies got off to a solid start as Bryce Dagel stayed unbeaten on the year with a 4-1 decision over Daniels Bendiks at 174 pounds. An first-period takedown was the only offense Dagel would need to secure the Huskies' first victory of the night. Minot State's Cayden White came out strong against FitzPatrick, hitting two first-period double-leg takedowns to take a quick 6-1 lead. FitzPatrick quickly reversed White to his back after the second takedown, scoring a reversal and then finishing off the bout with a fall at 2:14. FitzPatrick remained unbeaten at 6-0 and registered his third straight fall and sixth bonus victory of the season.

Murphy followed with his major decision, using two third-period takedowns to cruise to a 13-1 victory over Cannon Potts and improve to 5-0 on the young season. Minot State would get on the board at 285 as third-ranked Jake Swirple edged Elijah Novak 8-5 in sudden victory.

Archer Heelan won a back-and-forth affair at 125 pounds, getting a match-winning takedown in sudden victory to knock off Logen Fischer 12-9. Heelan jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first period before Fischer clawed back, taking a 9-6 lead with a takedown and four nearfall points in the third period. Heelan hit a reversal late and sent the match into sudden victory with the riding time point.

Following Caleb Meekins' slim 3-2 loss to Wayne Joint at 133, Craig turned up the offense in the second and third period and finished off Ethan Wonser in a seven-minute technical fall at 141 pounds. The Kansas native is now 5-0 on the season with three falls and two technical falls.

Nolan Throne improved to 3-0 in duals this season after a thrilling come-from-behind victory at 149 pounds. Throne initially didn't have an answer for a pair of upper-body throws by Minot State's Kasius Graham, but in the third period, Throne scored a reversal, a takedown and a key four-point nearfall on a roll-through tilt late in the match to steal away the victory. Throne is now 6-1 on the season.

Returning national champion Nick Novak was steady and calculated in his 15-0 technical fall victory over Kelby Armstrong at 157 pounds. Novak scored takedowns in each period and like Craig, earned the technical fall with a riding time point after the match went the full seven minutes.

With the victory, the Huskies improved to 3-0 on the season and 12-0 all-time against the Beavers.

Results:
174: Bryce Dagel (SCSU) DEC Daniels Bendiks (Minot State) 4-1.
184: Bryce Fitzpatrick (SCSU) FALL Cayden White (Minot State) 2:14
197: No. 4 Dominic Murphy (SCSU) MD Cannon Potts (Minot State) 13-1.
285: No. 3 Jake Swirple (Minot State) DEC Elijah Novak (SCSU) 8-5, SV
125: Archer Heelan (SCSU) DEC Logen Fischer (Minot State) 12-9, SV
133: Wayne Joint (Minot State) DEC No. 9 Caleb Meekins (SCSU) 3-2
141: No. 12 Alyeus Craig (SCSU) TF Ethan Wonser (Minot State) 16-1, 7:00
149: Nolan Throne (SCSU) DEC Kasius Graham (Minot State) 14-13.
157: No. 1 Nick Novak (SCSU) TF Kelby Armstrong (Minot State) 15-0, 7:00
165: Brendan Barnes (Minot State) DEC No. 4 Anthony Herrera (SCSU) 13-9.

Extra Countable Matches
184: Tyson Meyer (SCSU) TF Marcus Allen (Minot State) 15-0, 5:46
157: Blake Legred (SCSU) FALL Vontrell Calhoun (Minot State) 2:56

QUOTABLES FROM COSTANZO
"It was nice to come up here and get a win. This isn't the same Minot teams of the past. They have a lot of new guys up here and their guys weren't afraid to throw the kitchen sink at us. They put us in some bad situations. We have to stay in better position and wrestle full matches. Most of our guys came out a little bit flat tonight."

"(Throne and Heelan) just found a way to win and they kept wrestling through the end of the match and that made the biggest difference. When you do that in close matches, you give yourself a chance. They got gritty. If they would have quit wrestling or hung their head and not continue to wrestle, then we lose those matches. Archer got the takedown in overtime and we had to go attack him and capitalize to get the win."

"The positives, we came back from break and got back down to weight and competed, so we got that back out of our system. Hopefully next week we'll have some better weight management and be excited to wrestle in our home gym."

UP NEXT
SCSU will host its first home dual of the season as NSIC rival MSU Moorhead visits Halenbeck Hall on Saturday, December 9 at 2 p.m. The match will be streamed live on the NSIC Network.