After losing three of the first four matches in Saturday’s dual with Wisconsin, the Iowa State wrestling team needed a lift. Who better than defending national champion Cael Sanderson to provide the wake-up call?

Sanderson took the mat at 184 pounds with the Cyclones trailing 9-5 and mired in a slow start. He then proceeded to take apart Badger Joe Terrill to the tune of a 22-7 technical fall victory in which he put together seven takedowns, a reversal and three near-fall points.

Sanderson’s performance led the No. 1-rated Cyclones in defeating the Badgers 28-9 in their home opener Saturday at Hilton Coliseum to improve to 2-0 on the season.

“It was a lot of fun today. It was good to get out there on the mat in front of the Iowa State fans again,” Sanderson said. “I wanted to come out and get the crowd into it, and I hope the team fed off it too.”

After Sanderson’s dominating victory, the Cyclones responded by winning the final five matches of the meet.

“I think any time you come out and get a big win, it helps your team’s performance, and that certainly didn’t hurt ours. We were a little flat at the beginning but we started to build some momentum after Cael’s match,” Cyclone coach Bobby Douglas said.

The Cyclones also got bonus point victories from Billy Maldanado and Cody Sanderson. Sanderson pinned Brad Owens midway through the third period at 133 pounds while Maldanado cruised to a 19-4 technical fall win at 149 pounds.

The Cyclones had a pair of undefeated wrestlers suffer their first losses of the season in tough overtime matches.

In the 157-pound match, Todd Buckland lost a 3-1 decision and Joe Heskett was dealt only his second defeat of his Cyclone career at 165 pounds.

Heskett, ranked second, was defeated 4-2 by third-ranked Don Pritzlaff when Pritzlaff scored a takedown with 20 seconds left in overtime.

“Today’s loss isn’t bad for Joe Heskett. He grows with adversity, and I think this will help him down the road,” Douglas said.

Douglas was happy with his team’s performance but recognizes that improvement needs to be made in certain areas.

“Overall, I think we executed pretty well, and I’m pleased with the performance,” he said. “We need to generate offense, and today we didn’t really do that, so that’s an area where we need to focus on in the future.

“It’s early in the season and some of the guys aren’t as sharp as they’d normally be,” he said.

Over the holiday break, the Cyclones competed in two open tournaments.

They received eight first place finishes at the Harold Nichols Open and won four titles at the Omaha Open.