Iowa State's wrestling team finished several key matches with a flurry in whipping Northern Iowa, 29-15, Sunday afternoon.
Now the Cyclones will see if they're ready to finish their season with the same kind of flurry.
Cael Sanderson, the 184-pound Mozart in a singlet, led his 112th victory wire to wire, but three of the other five Cyclone wins weren't secured until deep in the third period. And that left Coach Bobby Douglas and his wrestlers with plenty of hope for the upcoming postseason.
"We win these matches in the third period, that shows we're going to be there," said 133-pound Matt Avezedo, who scored a takedown on UNI's Dylan Long with eight seconds left to earn a 5-3 victory.
"The top opponents at Big 12 and NCAA, those always come down to the third period. I think we showed that our team's got the gas to finish strong," he said.
That's exactly how Douglas viewed his team's final regular-season competition, before 1,606 fans at Hilton Coliseum.
"When you're scoring points in the third period, you've got good conditioning, and we're always pleased with that," Douglas said. "We really feel ready for the Big 12 tournament."
Iowa State will take a 19-4 dual record into the league tournament in Stillwater, Okla., March 3. UNI, which won just two matches on the mat -- both teams won one match by forfeit -- is 10-8 in duals.
In addition to Avezedo's thriller, the fourth-ranked Cyclones also got come-from-behind wins from Joe Heskett (165) and Perry Parks (174).
Heskett fell behind Northern Iowa's Nate Lawrenz, 4-1, in the first period, but rallied to score eight straight points before pinning the Panther with 10 seconds left.
Parks trailed UNI's Eric Brown, 4-0, in the second period, and trailed, 4-2, with 1:55 left in the match. All he did was finish with a takedown and nine straight near-fall points to win, 13-4.
"(Lawrenz) got off to a good start," Heskett said. "But I was able to come back and wrestle the way I want to wrestle.
"That's been a positive characteristic of our team, to fight throughout the whole match and win the close ones. That's going to pay off at the national tournament."
The obvious assumption is that the best conditioned wrestler wins the close match at the end. But UNI Coach Brad Penrith said it's more complicated than that.
"Losing at the end, it's not just about physical conditioning," he said. "Heskett's done that, come back, a thousand times. For us, it's youth, it's experience, it's confidence.
"We're in good shape. Some of the guys, at the end there, they have to believe they're in good shape."
As for Cael Sanderson, it's yet to be determined that he broke a sweat in dismantling Northern Iowa's Kyle Hansen, 21-8, to run his collegiate record to 112-0.
Hansen is ranked among the nation's top 20 184-pounders, and had lost only five times against 22 victories. All Sanderson did to him, as he's done to so many, is make him look like he'd never stepped on a mat before.
"Cael had a splendid performance," Douglas said. "They were trying to slow the match down, and he just went out and wrestled exceptionally well."
His brother, Cole Sanderson, led throughout his match at 157 pounds and beat Drew Kelly, 8-2. Iowa State's 197-pounder, Zach Thompson, manhandled Jason Payne, 8-4.
UNI forfeited at heavyweight; ISU returned the favor at 141 pounds.
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