BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Nebraska's Josh Ihnen needed just 44 seconds.
The junior recorded the quickest pin of his career — and first pin of the season — to rally the No. 7 Nebraska wrestling team to a 23-17 victory over Indiana on Friday.
The Huskers, who trailed 14-3 after four matches, improved to 11-1 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten duals. Indiana dropped to 6-5 and 0-5 in the conference.
Ihnen played a crucial part in the Huskers' victory, picking up key bonus-points at 184 pounds with his pin over Luke Sheridan. Wasting no time getting on the offensive, Ihnen took Sheridan straight to his back on his first-shot attempt. The Sheldon, Iowa, native improved to 16-2 on the season and 11-1 in conference duals.
Nebraska dropped three of its first four matches. No. 19 Ridge Kiley (133 pounds) picked up NU's only victory in the opening four bouts, defeating Joe Duca 7-2 to break his two-match losing streak.
In need of bonus-point victories, the Huskers received two from a pair of freshmen in James Green (157) and Robert Kokesh (165).
Ninth-ranked Green collected seven takedowns to defeat Sawyer Morris by a 16-5 major decision and move his team-leading win total to 22. The seventh-ranked Kokesh exploded for three takedowns in the third period to beat Preston Keiffer 12-2, cutting the Huskers' deficit to 14-11.
No. 20 Tyler Koehn (174) tied the dual 14-14 after edging Indiana's Ryan LeBlanc 5-2. The two wrestlers exchanged escape points at the beginning of the second and third periods to tie the score 1-1, but Koehn was able to record a takedown with 38 seconds left to take a 3-1 lead. Following an escape by LeBlanc, Koehn captured another takedown with less than 10 seconds left to seal the victory.
Husker senior James Nakashima (197) put the dual out of reach with a 4-3 overtime victory over Joe Fagiano. After being tied through the first tiebreaker and second sudden-victory period, Nakashima nearly held Fagiano in the down position for the first 30-second period, but gave up an escape with one second left. Nakashima was able to escape in the last 30-second period and was awarded the victory because of the 19 seconds of riding time.
Nebraska's Tucker Lane, ranked eighth, saw his 11-match winning streak come to an end in the heavyweight class, falling to Adam Chalfant 3-2.
After an early takedown at 125 pounds, Husker sophomore Shawn Nagel couldn't hold off Zach Zimmer and lost an 8-2 decision.
At 141 pounds, Indiana's Matt Ortega won by fall over Luis DeAnda, who was seeing his first action in dual competition while filling in for freshman Jake Sueflohn.
Indiana's 149-pound Tayler Walsh, ranked 20th, defeated Brandon Wilbourn by technical fall 15-0 to give the Hoosiers a 14-3 lead, their biggest of the night before Kokesh and Green started the Husker comeback.
Nebraska returns to action Sunday when it hosts Purdue at the NU Coliseum at 1 p.m.
• Individual results: 125 pounds: Zach Zimmer, IU, dec. Shawn Nagel, NU, 8-2. 133: Ridge Kiley, NU, dec. Joe Duca, IU, 7-2. 141: Matt Ortega, IU, fall Luis DeAnda, NU, 4:10. 149: Taylor Walsh, IU, tech. fall Brandon Wilbourn, NU, 15-0. 157: James Green, NU, major dec. Sawyer Morris, IU, 16-5. 165: Robert Kokesh, NU, major dec. Preston Keiffer, IU, 12-2. 174: Tyler Koehn, NU, dec. Ryan LeBlanc, IU, 5-2. 184: Josh Ihnen, NU, pin Luke Sheridan, IU, 0:44. 197: James Nakashima, NU, dec. Joe Fagiano, 4-3, overtime. 285: Adam Chalfant, IU, dec. Tucker Lane, NU, 3-2.
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