The Iowa wrestling team took back control of the in-state rivalry on Friday night, ending their two-match losing streak to the Cyclones, 20-15.

The seventh-ranked Hawkeyes (2-0) won the first three matches of the night, building a 10-point lead from heavyweight through the 133-pound weight class.

As expected, the fifth-ranked Cyclones regained footing in the middleweights, but a late rally fell short.

“I think everything that could have gone [Iowa’s] way did,” said Trent Paulson, who beat rival Joe Johnston, 8-3, for the second time this season. “And everything that could have gone wrong for us went wrong.”

Hawkeye 184-pounder Paul Bradley ended the Cyclones’ chances, scoring a 8-4 decision over Kurt Backes in one of the most contested and energized matches of the night.

Backes’ one career win over the second-ranked Hawkeye came two years ago in Hilton, and with the Cyclones down 17-8, he was gunning for an early season victory over his rival. After falling behind 5-1 in the third period, Backes scored an escape and a takedown to keep the crowd on the edge of their seats.

But after a timeout with 42 seconds left, Bradley locked up with Backes, running most of the time off before he was awarded a takedown. ISU assistant coach Cael Sanderson spent most of the time in between matches arguing the call, saying that if there was a takedown, then stalling should have been called.

Either way, the Cyclones weren’t dwelling on what-if’s.

“In pretty much all the toss-up weights basically, they won,” Paulson said. “But 197 pounds and Bradley’s weight . I think [there were] questionable calls in the end, but you’ll have those.”

With the duel already decided, Joe Curran earned a third period pin over Iowa senior Adam Fellers, an encouraging match for both Curran and the fans at Hilton. The 197-pound true freshman used his strength early and was eventually rewarded with the fall, as well as an ovation from the crowd.

“It’s a really big confidence-booster,” Curran said. “To win in this dual is truly just a great confidence-booster.”

Travis Paulson also impressed his teammate. Paulson won his 165-pound match, 8-4, over Iowa’s Cole Pape.

“[Curran’s match] was definitely an encouragement,” Paulson said. “Because as a freshman, that’s a lot of pressure on his shoulders with all those people being out there . He went out and he performed.”

Nate Gallick had the first of the four ISU victories of the dual, beating a budding rival in sophomore Alex Tsirtsis. Gallick scored an escape and a takedown in the second period, leading to a 4-1 decision.

Tsirtsis forced overtime in both of his matches against Gallick last year, but fell to 0-3 against the Cyclone senior with Friday’s loss.

Mark Perry, 2005 NCAA runner-up, earned a 13-3 major decision victory over David Bertolino.

“I said it earlier, it was a battle of skills versus the battle of wills,” ISU coach Bobby Douglas said. “I don’t think we won the battle of skills – we have some technical things to work on. But I think the effort was there.”

Douglas was understandably disappointed with the loss.

“Where we had experience, we didn’t take advantage of it,” Douglas said. “But you have to give credit to Iowa . We can’t complain about what we did or didn’t do. We did not win the match so we have to find a way to correct that.

“The effort was there. We just have to polish the skills.”

Now, the Cyclones are focusing on the future.

“The first way to look at it is that, team-wise, you learn more from a big loss then a big win,” Trent Paulson said. “We saw the things Iowa got the better of us on the mat. We just have to make sure that doesn’t happen in the future.”