MINNEAPOLIS — The lights were turned off in the Target Center Friday night, and spotlights lit the mat.

Combine dim lighting with technical glitches, a strong opponent and several questionable calls, and the second-ranked Cyclone wrestlers’ 19-18 victory over No. 9 Minnesota was impressive.

Sophomore Grant Nakamura started the night at 125 pounds with a victory over All-American and 14th-ranked Bobbe Lowe. The match ended up being one of the most important.

“Nakamura did an unbelievable job,” ISU head coach Bobby Douglas said. “He wrestled the whole match and was a major factor in our momentum in those first five matches.”

Nakamura was down 4-1 after the first period. He continued to shoot, but Lowe backed out. Nakamura scored with an escape and a takedown in the second period. He sealed the 6-4 victory with a takedown in the closing seconds of the third period.

Two-time All-American Zach Roberson continued his unbeaten streak, but said he wasn’t impressed with his 5-3 victory over freshman Quincy Osborn.

“I wasn’t completely happy, but I got a win,” he said.

Roberson led 2-0 early, but Osborn took the lead 3-2 after a reversal and an escape to start the second period. Roberson took down Osborn as time expired but was given no points because the clock had run out. Roberson dominated the third period for a 5-3 victory.

More trouble at the scorer’s table almost cost 141-pounder Nate Gallick his match. Gallick had opponent Tommy Owen’s leg locked and was close to a takedown when the horn on the scoreboard sounded. The match was stopped, Gallick was awarded no points and the wrestlers started in the neutral position in the center of the mat. Gallick took down Owen late to earn a 5-4 victory.

Stalling was called against the Cyclones during the first three matches, although it appeared the tentative wrestling spawned from both sides.

“I can’t comment on judgment calls,” Douglas said. “It’s not an easy job being a referee. He called them the way he saw them, although I didn’t see them the same way some of the time. The stalling was a factor. It made us wrestle and it made us wrestle hard.”

Trent Paulson dominated Thomas McAlpine and was awarded an 11-2 major decision. The 149-pounder almost pinned McAlpine in the first period and was awarded a three-point near-fall.

Trent’s brother, Travis, ranked fourth at 157 pounds, beat No. 17 Matt Nagel 8-3. Nagel avoided a major decision by backing away but was never called for stalling.

“Only we were getting called for stalling,” freshman Kurt Backes said. “That’s the way things go sometimes. We just had to work harder and wrestle better.”

The Cyclones held a 16-0 advantage going into intermission.

Sixth-ranked Nick Passolano lost to fifth-ranked Jacob Volkmann 11-2. The score was 2-0 in favor of Volkmann after two periods. He scored a first-period takedown and kept Passolano on the mat for the rest of the period. Volkmann started the second period on top of Passolano and rode him for the entire period. He had over 3:30 in riding time by the end of the match.

“Both [Passolano and Volkmann] wrestled a terrific match,” Douglas said. “[Volkmann] was well prepared and came out and did an outstanding job. Nick is not up to form yet, but we don’t want to take anything away from Volkmann because he did an outstanding job. Passolano will get better every match and by the end of the year, he’ll be a different wrestler.”

At 174 pounds, Nels Matson fought hard for two periods but couldn’t beat opponent Jon Duncombe. For the first time in the meet, however, a Minnesota wrestler was cautioned for stalling. Duncombe scored early and often in the third to earn the 13-3 major decision.

Fifth-ranked Kurt Backes was the only Cyclone to win during the second half of the match, beating a defensive Josh McLay 3-1. Although McLay looked to be the most defensive wrestler of the night, he was never cautioned for stalling, and Backes had to rely on both strength and endurance to outpower and outmanuever McLay at the end.

Trevor Smith wrestled No. 1 Damion Hahn at 197 pounds. Although Hahn showed why he is the top-ranked wrestler in the nation, he was unable to pin or technical fall Smith, and the Gophers’ hopes for victory were slashed. Hahn won 12-3.

Freshman heavyweight Richard Schopf was pinned in 2:52. That gave the Gophers six more points to bring the meet to its final score, 19-18.