In their last tune-up before a big showdown with intrastate rival Iowa, the ISU wrestling team had to hold off Wisconsin 24-21 Sunday afternoon in Hilton Coliseum.

The Cyclones opened up a 24-6 lead after seven matches, but watched the Badgers win the last three matches, including two pins, to make the final score close.

The victory moves the No. 6 Cyclones to 2-0 heading into Sunday’s meeting with the No. 5 Hawkeyes.

The two pins came at 125 and 133 where the Badger duo of the Black brothers recorded pins in close matches.

Tony Black pinned Ty Malia with 24 seconds left in a tie match at 125 while Kevin Black used a tough half nelson to turn Zach Roberson over for the pin at 4:33 in the 133-pound match.

“When you give up falls, you don’t expect to blow out your opponent,” ISU head coach Bobby Douglas said. “Give credit to Wisconsin, it was what they did and not what we didn’t do. Wisconsin wrestled a smart match.”

Malia scored a takedown to tie the match at 8-8, but was caught riding high for the pin. At 133, in a battle of ranked wrestlers, No. 7 ranked Roberson broke out to a 7-1 lead before Black, ranked fourth, cut the deficit to 7-6 before getting the pin.

The late rally by the Badgers behind the fall points didn’t sit well with Douglas with the Hawkeye meet only a week away.

“When you get pinned twice, you don’t feel real good about it, but we’ll be ready for Iowa,” Douglas said. “We just can’t give up that many team points and expect to be a competitive dual team. We’ll go back and do some work and correct those mistakes.”

The five Cyclone victories were done in impressive fashion as they picked up two pins, a technical fall and a major decision. The other win was a 6-2 win from Mark Knauer at heavyweight.

“I’m impressed with everyone that won today to be quite honest with you,” Douglas said. “This was a tough dual meet and all the matches were hard fought matches.”

Joe Heskett and Cael Sanderson, both ranked No. 1, remained unbeaten at 13-0 with pins. Heskett pinned Ryan Lewis in 5:53 at 165 and Sanderson built a 12-5 lead before getting a first-period pin at 197.

At 174, Cyclone freshman Nick Passolano scored an early takedown on Brady Reinke and proceeded to put on a riding clinic. After the takedown, Passolano turned Reinke five times to record a 16-0 technical fall victory in just 2:59.

“Coach Douglas wanted me to take him down and score more points any way I could,” Passolano said. “I felt comfortable right off the bat turning him, and I felt like I had a chance to expose his back easily, and I just took it.”

Passolano was determined to give the home crowd a better showing after losing a 10-2 major decision to West Virginia in Hilton Coliseum last weekend.

“I wanted to come out here and improve from last week, because I came out a little flat last week,” Passolano said. “Coming in today, I wanted to set the tone and have a different match.”

The dual meet was started at 149 and Cyclone Billy Maldonado got the Cyclones off to a good start with a 15-4 major decision win.