FORT WORTH, TX - Texas Wesleyan Men's Wrestling battled No. 11 Oklahoma City Friday night at the Sid Richardson and while the squad came close to a couple of major victories and played the Stars better than the first meeting this season, TXWES came up short on its home floor, 33-12.

The match was headlined by Kobe Nelms' dominant performance at 133 lbs. Nelms quickly pounced on his opponent, Kellen Dean and never let him off the mat. While Nelms added a pin to Cortez Castellanos' forfeit victory, the most exciting battle of the night came next in the 141-lb division with the Rams' Adrian Zubia and OCU's Connor Holman.

Zubia won his first point on a caution. Holman, eager to make a move before the whistle was given a violation three times, taking away a 4-0 lead. He was whistled again for attacking to soon, giving Zubia his second point, then again for his third point. Down 6-3, Zubia was finally able to get ahold of Holman at the end of the second period to cut the deficit to two, 7-5. Holman let Zubia get off the mat, giving up another point. With the clock stopped at 6.3 seconds in the third period, Zubia immediately went after Holman trying to land anything in the final seconds, but Holman held on.

Dracius McKee, at 165-lbs, played a basic stalemate and could not find opportunities to score. Down one minute to go, he was down by just one, picking his spots to make sure the matchup did not get away from him. With 22 seconds left, R.J. Walker was able to get him down and created the separation he needed to all but secure a Stars victory. Zane Miller (197 lbs) lost another close one, 9-5, 5-3 going into the third period.

Coach Ray Bedford is seeing the improvements and now it is time to put it all together. The Sooner Athletic Conference Championship will start Friday, with Championship matches Saturday, in Oklahoma. The coaches will meet Thursday night to determine seeding and brackets.

OKLAHOMA CITY 33
TEXAS WESLEYAN 12
125: Cortez Castellanos, TXWES, by forfeit
133: Kobe Nelms, TXWES, pinned Kellen Dean
141: Connor Holman, OCU, dec. Adrian Zubia, 8-6
149: Austin Loza, OCU, pinned Jason Chambers, 3:53
157: Jon McGowan, OCU, pinned Garrett Mowles, 5:03
165: R.J. Walker, OCU, dec. Dracius McKee, 6-2
174: Chase Vincent, OCU, dec. Don Doyle, 9-1
184: Kaden Truelove, OCU, pinned Cameron Gregg, 2:12
197: Easton Rendleman, OCU, dec. Zane Miller, 10-5
285: Gage Johnson, OCU, by forfeit