It was behind the momentum nine consecutive bonus wins that the Penn State wrestling team dismantled Michigan State Sunday afternoon in East Lansing, 48-3. By winning all but one of its bouts, the Nittany Lions extended their unbeaten streak to 38 dual meets, which ties a school record.

Of the nine bonus victories, five came by fall. There were also a pair of technical falls and major decisions. In all, Penn State wrestlers totaled 40 takedowns. The Spartans’ finished with only three. It was a major improvement in that category from Penn State’s 25-12 win at Michigan Friday night, during which the Wolverines kept the takedown battle close, 14-10.

“The guys’ attitude and effort was really good today,” assistant coach Casey Cunningham told Jeff Byers after the match on the Penn State Sports Radio Network. "We looked sharper than we looked Friday.”

With the dual opening at 125 pounds, Penn State’s only loss came during the first bout. That’s when MSU’s Rayvon Foley outlasted redshirt freshman Devin Schnupp for a 6-2 decision. From there, PSU didn’t lose again, scoring bonus at each of the next nine weight classes.

Corey Keener got it started at 133 as he rebounded from a Friday night loss. Against Sparty’s Matt Santos, Keener came out strong, scored four takedowns, a couple back points and accumulated 3 minutes and 37 seconds of riding time in order to win by major decision, 12-2.

At 141, Nick Lee won his second consecutive varsity match after making his lineup debut against the Wolverines. Facing Javier Gasca, who represented MSU in the Big Ten final of this weight class a year ago, Lee dominated to a 16-1 technical fall. In all of 5 minutes and 10 seconds, Lee turned Gasca to his back twice for a pair of four-point near falls.

Cunningham said Lee had a “good first match Friday night and against a better kid today he just looked sharp. No predictions on him but we know what we’re going to get out of him every time.”

The two-time returning NCAA champ at 149, Zain Retherford needed just 4 minutes and 8 seconds to pin Jwan Britto. It secured Retherford’s 13th pin of the season, which for a brief moment in time led all Division I wrestlers. It also gave Retherford his 49th pin of his career, which puts him within four of Penn State’s all-time record.

Although Jason Nolf surrendered the opening takedown at 157, he rallied to produce seven takedowns in the first period alone. He escaped from bottom to start the second and immediately turned into Jake Tucker to lock up a cradle and get the fall in 3:27. It, too, was Nolf’s 13th pin of the season, tying Retherford’s high mark.

For PSU’s third pin in a row, 165-pound Vincenzo Joseph turned Austin Hiles in 2:48. At 174, Mark Hall kept the bonus train rolling with a 19-4 technical fall over Logan Ritchie in 6:21. Then Bo Nickal picked up another fall at 184, pinning Shawn Shadaia in 2:02. Before locking Shadaia up with a cradle in the first period, Nickal had already tallied four takedowns.

Penn State sent Anthony Cassar out at 197 and he rolled to a 16-2 major decision over Nick May. Shakur Rasheed started for PSU at 197 Friday night, beating Michigan’s Kevin Beazley, 7-1. Cunningham said he and his coaching staff have two viable options in Cassar and Rasheed and a decision between the two has not been made.

“We think they’re both very capable of accomplishing at lot at the end of the year,” Cunningham said. “With a short week and two matches on the weekend it’s hard to do a wrestle-off and figure out who that (starter) is. We might do a little bit of what we did this weekend (rotating dual meets) going forward, but we’ll see.”

In the final match, Nick Nevills put a stamp on PSU’s bonus brigade with a pin at 285. It took until the third period before Nevills finally recorded the fall in 6:35. Before that Nevills had taken down Matt Lloyd six times and turned him to his back once before the pin.

No. 2 Penn State 48, Michigan State 3

January 14, 2018 – East Lansing, Mich.

125: Rayvon Foley MSU dec. Devin Schnupp PSU, 6-2 0-3

133: Corey Keener PSU maj. dec. Matt Santos MSU, 12-2 4-3

141: Nick Lee PSU tech fall No. 20 Javier Gasca MSU, 16-1 (5:10) 9-3

149: No. 1 Zain Retherford PSU pinned Jwan Britton MSU, WBF (4:08) 15-3

157: No. 1 Jason Nolf PSU pinned Jake Tucker MSU, WBF (3:27) 21-3

165: No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph PSU pinned Austin Hiles MSU, WBF (2:48) 27-3

174: No. 2 Mark Hall PSU tech fall Logan Ritchie MSU, 19-4 (TF; 6:21) 32-3

184: No. 1 Bo Nickal PSU pinned Shwan Shadaia MSU, WBF (2:02) 38-3

197: Anthony Cassar PSU maj. dec. Nick May MSU, 16-2 42-3

285: No. 8 Nick Nevills PSU pinned Matt Lloyd MSU, WBF (6:35) 48-3

Records: Penn State 7-0, 3-0 B1G; Michigan State 4-5, 0-3 B1G

Up Next for Penn State: home vs. Purdue, Friday, Jan. 19, 7 p.m. in Rec Hall