TEMPE – Sun Devil Wrestling completed yet another comeback to defeat No. 22 Oregon State, 23-16, on Friday night at Desert Financial Arena. After being down 16-4, Arizona State rattled off five-straight wins from 165 lb. division through the heavyweight division to overcome top-25 ranked OSU.
While down 7-4 in his bout, redshirt junior 184-pounder Shay Addison pulled off a flawless reversal into a pin to completely flip the momentum in favor of the Sun Devils, putting six team-points on the board and knotting the overall team score at 16-16 with just two bouts remaining.
Addison was followed up by graduate 197-pounder Colton Hawks, who faced his biggest test of the season against the Beavers’ No. 4 Justin Rademacher. The two battled back-and-forth as the bout made way to a third overtime period, where Hawks was able to come on top 6-4 in a SV-3 thriller to make it 19-16 in favor of ASU.
Freshman heavyweight Ben Szuba then put the crown jewel on a statement win by securing an 11-0 major decision to round out a gutsy effort all across the board for the Sun Devils in a 23-16 win.
Redshirt freshman No. 20 Pierson Manville (141 lbs.) put ASU on the board with four points via MD, before redshirt sophomore Nicco Ruiz (165 lbs.) and redshirt senior Cael Valencia (174 lbs.) put together back-to-back wins in order to set the table for the Sun Devils’ back-end trio.
ASU (3-10, 1-6 Big 12) has now claimed wins in two of its last three duals, while also winning in eight-consecutive duals over longtime rival Oregon State (6-2, 3-0 Pac-12), dating back to Nov. 24, 2015.
The Sun Devils will look to build on the momentum as they travel to Norman, Oklahoma to compete against the Oklahoma Sooners at McCasland Field House on Sunday Feb. 8, at 1 p.m. MST.
Full Results
125: No. 9 Maximo Renteria (OSU) MFOR over Damian Moreno
133: Gabe Whisenhunt (OSU) MD 12-3 over Carter Dibert
141: No. 20 Pierson Manville MD 11-3 over No. 28 Nash Singleton (OSU)
149: No. 26 Noah Tolentino (OSU) Dec. 4-1 over Benji Alanis
157: CJ Hamblin (OSU) Dec. 3-1 over Gabriel Delgado
165: No. 14 Nicco Ruiz Dec. 4-1 over No. 22 Matthew Olguin (OSU)
174: Cael Valencia Dec. 12-6 over No. 26 Daschle Lamer (OSU)
184: Shay Addison F (5:26) over TJ McDonnell (OSU)
197: Colton Hawks Dec. (SV-3 6-4) over No. 4 Justin Rademacher (OSU)
HWT: Ben Szuba MD 11-0 over Khale McDonnell (OSU)
Notes
- Colton Hawks’ win over No. 4 Justin Redemacher marked the highest ranked win of his career between his time at ASU and Missouri.
- Shay Addison’s win by fall marked the second time in three duals that a Sun Devils 184-pounder won by fall after Azizbek Fayzullaev’s pin on Jan. 31 against Cornell (W, 18-17).
- Ben Szuba’s win marked the 22nd-consecutive win by a Sun Devil heavyweight between tournaments/duals by him and fellow heavyweight, his older brother, David Szuba.
- Ben Szuba has now posted nine wins by bonus points this season, the most of any freshman Sun Devil Wrestler since at least the 2021-22 season.
- Nicco Ruiz picked up his 17th win of the season, a new career high.
- ASU earned its first win at Desert Financial Arena for the first time since Feb. 4, 2024, which also was over Oregon State (W, 19-17).
- The Sun Devils won five-consecutive bouts in a dual for the first time this season and since Jan. 12, 2025 vs. Cal Baptist.
Quotes
Head Coach Zeke Jones
On the impact of the crowd:
“We were all kind of quiet and just said, ‘Come on, let's get going’. Shay got the big pin, and it really gave us a hope that we could win. The crowd really jumped up and rallied. We have a good nucleus of fans here. We've been blessed in a year when we're not quite winning as much, but we have a nucleus of people that love the program and come out all the time. And they helped.”
On bringing in Ben Szuba to close the dual:
“The dual meet was on the line, and we felt really confident that Ben could finish it. And he did. He's had several competitions leading up to this. He's had some good results, but he hasn't been in a heater, everything on the line to win a duel. I looked at him right before and said, ‘Are you ready to go?,’ and I smiled at him. He had a big, giant smile. He looked relaxed, but ready to go and he obviously showed it.”
Graduate Student Colton Hawks
On emotions after his win:
“I was honestly just super fired up to win, but especially for our team wrestling Oregon State, our old rival from the PAC 12. It was just awesome to see everyone celebrating. That's the best part of winning a wrestle, seeing all of your boys celebrate for you. Honestly, just pure joy, having a good time.”
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