Weekend Split for Rutgers Wrestling; Basketball Player Earns Tournament Honors

The Rutgers University wrestling team entered the weekend undefeated, but walked away from a big Thanksgiving weekend of dual meets with splits all the way around.

The Scarlet Knights went 2-2 over the weekend, going 1-1 at the Northeast Duals in Troy, New York, and 1-1 at the Grapple at the Garden at Madison Square Garden. The Knights were also 1-1 against future Big 10 foes Michigan State and Maryland.

Following a 22-9 loss to 11th ranked Virginia to open the Northeast Duals, the Scarlet Knights defeated Michigan State by two points, 20-18, according to scarletknights.com.

A victory by Toms River native Ken Theobold at 149 pounds helped put Rutgers over the edge, as did a technical fall by freshman Tyson Dippery at 141 pounds.

Theobold, a sophomore, scored a pinfall on Matt Pasqualini to earn his first dual meet win of the year, according to scarletknights.com.

The extra points scored by Theobold and Dippery made the difference in a match in which the teams split the bouts, 5-5.

Other Rutgers wins came from 157-pound sophomore Anthony Perrotti, of Roseland; 174-pound sophomore Phil Bakuckas, of Hammonton; and 125-pound freshman Scott DelVecchio, of South Plainfield.

Dippery, 197-pound sophomore Hayden Hrymack, of Lincroft, and sophomore heavyweight Billy Smith, of Wantage, picked up wins in the loss to Virginia.

Rutgers’ matchup against its other future conference foe Maryland, currently of the ACC, ended in a one-point loss at the Grapple at the Garden, according to scarletknights.com.

Nationally-ranked Terrapin Spencer Myers defeated Smith, also nationally ranked, in the second round of tiebreakers, to give Maryland the 19-18 victory.

Both wrestlers are ranked by AWN, InterMat and W.I.N. Magazine, with Myers ranked 6/11/7 and Smith ranked 16/18/17, according to scarletknights.com.

DelVecchio, Theobold, and Bakuckas also picked up wins, as did 133-pound senior Vincent Dellafave, of Toms River, and 165-pound junior Nick Visicaro, of Long Branch.

Rutgers also defeated George Mason, 29-10, at the Grapple at the Garden.

The Scarlet Knights scored wins in eight of the 10 bouts, including a pinfall by Theobold, his third of the weekend.

Other wins came from Dellafave, Dippery, Perrotti, Visicaro, Bakuckas, 125-pound freshman Sean McCabe and 184-pound senior Dan Seidenberg, of Red Bank.

Rutgers is now 5-2 and competes in the Las Vegas Invitational this Friday and Saturday.

HONORS FOR WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Sophomore guard Kahleah Cooper was named to the Barclay Women’s Basketball Invitational all-Tournament Team after leading the Scarlet Knights to a 1-1 record at the event over the weekend, according to scarletknights.com.

Cooper averaged 15 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in two games at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, home of the NBA’s Nets. The Scarlet Knights fell to Louisiana State, 69-65, on Friday, and defeated Texas Tech, 61-52, on Saturday.

Against Louisiana State, Cooper had 16 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Briyona Canty, of Willingboro, had 13 points, and junior guard Betnijah Laney had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Against Texas Tech, Cooper had 14 points and nine rebounds. Freshman guard Tyler Scaife led the way with 18 points. Junior guard Syessence Davis, of Neptune, had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Rutgers is now 5-2 and visits Davidson on Wednesday night, 7 p.m.