NORMAN, Okla. – In between weekends of Mat Mayhem, top-ranked Oklahoma State had a difficult trip to rival Oklahoma on Thursday.

It proved to be just that as the Cowboys escaped with a 19-18 victory inside McCasland Fieldhouse in front of 1,427.

Oklahoma senior Erich Schmidtke beat Chris McNeil at 184 pounds, the dual’s final bout, to tie things at 18-18 with each squad winning five matches. Chris Perry’s technical fall at 174 pounds, however, provided the difference in the tiebreaker as the Cowboys got out of town with a fifth straight win over their rivals.

“I don’t think it’s about looking ahead,” said Oklahoma State head coach John Smith, whose squad hosts Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota this Sunday in the final of Mat Mayhem. “It’s just about having this match. It’s tough scheduling. It’s tough to slide it in. Looking back on it, probably would have done something differently. Didn’t feel like it was going to interfere with much, and maybe it didn’t. 

“The hard matches and the tough matches that we were in tonight, that’s what you want to be a part of. You want to embrace them. It was a struggle tonight for us. It was more of what we weren’t doing so much as what they were doing. I think we all knew it could be a tough match coming in, and it lived up to it.”

The two rivals plodded their way through six bouts with visiting Oklahoma State (15-0) leading 13-8 entering 157 pounds.

Matt Lester then turned Albert White three times in the third period, the last coming in the final moments, to pick up an 11-3 major decision. It cut the deficit to 13-12 with three matches to wrestle. 

Bubby Graham gave the hosts a 15-13 lead with an 8-4 decision of Dallas Bailey at 165 pounds.

Perry, who entered Thursday unbeaten at 20-0, then picked up a technical fall at 174 pounds, setting up the finale at 184 pounds between Schmidtke and McNeil with Oklahoma State leading 18-15.

“I tried not to think about it,” admitted Schmidtke (17-11), wrestling for the final time on home mats. “I knew I had to at least win but I tried not to really think about.”

“That is part of it I think,” said Perry of this weekend. “To win a national title, we can’t have slip ups like that. I know we have big duals coming up this week, but if we wrestle the way we did tonight, we won’t win in those duals.

“They tried to keep me away from figuring it out. After my match, I came back and asked if we were going to win. I knew the tech was important after I got it because I could hear more cheers than I thought I would hear.”

The Sooners (13-5) had three major decisions in their five victories.

All-American Jarrod Patterson (23-5) had little trouble in dispatching Jon Morrison, 10-0, at 125 pounds to cut the visitors’ lead to 6-4 after three bouts.

The hosts drew to within 10-8 after Kendric Maple’s 12-4 major decision at 141 pounds over Cowboy backup Julian Feikert. It was Maple’s 26th victory in 27 starts this season.

A momentum swing occurred at 157 pounds where Lester beat White for the second time this season.

“We felt coming in we could win the dual,” said OU head coach Mark Cody. “I think tonight was the first time everyone wrestled well at the same time. We’ve had duals where half the guys have been good and the other half didn’t wrestle as well.”

Oklahoma State’s Jordan Oliver (19-1) meticulously worked to an 11-2 major decision of Jordan Keller at 133 pounds. It gave the Cowboys a 10-4 advantage.

Senior Jamal Parks remained unbeaten with a 6-2 win over Nick Lester at 149 pounds.

Alan Gelogaev (24-0) worked his way by Kyle Colling, 11-6, at 285 pounds. An apparent injury in the second period slowed down the usually aggressive Russian, who beat Colling by major decision in the first Bedlam meeting.

In his first action since suffering an injury at Missouri two weekends ago, Blake Rosholt improved to 18-2 with a sloppy 11-8 decision over Keldrick Hall in the dual’s opening bout. Hall cut it to 10-8 in the final 15 seconds with a takedown but Rosholt had just enough.

In the first Bedlam meeting this season, the Cowboys got a pin at 197 by Cayle Byers and a major decision by Gelogaev.

Oklahoma State 19, Oklahoma 18

125-Jarrod Patterson (O) maj dec Jon Morrison, 10-0

133-Jordan Oliver (OS) maj dec Jordan Keller, 11-2

141-Kendric Maple (O) maj dec Julian Feikert, 12-4

149-Jamal Parks (OS) dec Nick Lester, 6-2

157-Matt Lester (O) maj dec Albert White, 11-3

165-Bubby Graham (O) dec Dallas Bailey, 8-4

174-Chris Perry (OS) tech fall Kyle Detmer, 21-5

184-Erich Schmidtke (O) dec Chris McNeil, 4-3

*197-Blake Rosholt (OS) dec Keldrick Hall, 11-8

285-Alan Gelogaev (OS) dec Kyle Colling, 11-6

*dual started at 197 pounds