The No. 19 Wisconsin (6-4, 2-2) wrestling team seemed to be in control the entire match. They had Purdue (8-5, 0-3) on the ropes until a last-second escape and take down by Purdue's Brandon Tucker brought the Boilermakers to within striking distance at 18-13 with two matches remaining.

Purdue pulled even closer when sixth-ranked senior Chris Fleeger knocked off the Badgers fifth-ranked Tom Clum at 133 pounds bringing the score to 18-16 going into the final match.

But the Boilermakers just did not have enough, as senior Ed Gutnik slammed their hopes of a comeback to the mat with a pin of Jason Cook in a time of 5:31.

"Ed needed that," UW head coach Barry Davis said. "We had a talk at the Iowa and Northwestern weekend on a few things. I guess I got my point across. It was a good win for Eddie and a good win for us. It's nice to have Eddie back on track."

Gutnik was also happy to get back on track and help the team to victory after a couple of tough losses in recent matches.

"[The pin was] good for me, and it's definitely always good for the team," said senior Ed Gutnik. "But it is good for me because I'm coming off some pretty tough losses. So it felt real good today. I was really excited for the crowd and everything, too."

The Badgers did not get off to the best of starts at 149 pounds with fifth-ranked junior captain Tyler Turner dropping only his third loss of the season to ninth-ranked Doug Withstandley.

But they bounced back quickly with back-to-back pins at 157 and 165 pounds to get an early lead in the match.

Seventh-ranked Craig Henning dispatched Jake Murphy of Purdue in the first period in a time of 1:57.

He was followed up by 18th-ranked sophomore Jake Donar, who pinned his opponent, Dan Bedoy, in 3:50.

"[The pin] was pretty exciting," Donar said. "I wanted to get the crowd into it a little more because I figured that always helps, and once you get everything going good, then hopefully the outcome is good and it was."

The Badgers continued with their success at 174 pounds as sophomore Mike Felling, filling in for the injured senior captain Kelly Flaherty, defeated Purdue's Nick Corpe in a hard fought match 10-5.

The Boilermakers' third-ranked Ben Wissel proved to be too much for the Badgers Matt Maciag at 184. Maciag hung in there, but the chiseled Wissel was just too tough coming away with a major decision 12-3.

In probably the hardest fought match of the afternoon, Badger freshman Dallas Herbst came up just short against Purdue's 20th-ranked Nathan Moore. Moore got an early two-point lead with a first period take down of Herbst, but was unable to register any more points. Herbst stuck around and was rewarded with a stalling point against Moore in the third period, but was unable to get a late take down for the win despite a flurry of late moves.

Senior heavyweight Lee Kraemer took down Purdue's Aaron Keough by a 3-0 score. Kraemer captured an early take down and never looked back.

After Kraemer's win came the match that was the equivalent of a roller coaster ride. At 125 pounds junior Colin Cudd was looking to basically seal the match for the Badgers with a win. He and Purdue's Brandon Tucker went through the first period with neither able to garner any points, but in the second period Cudd was able to take down Tucker to get the first lead.

Cudd was also able to recover after Tucker got a reversal by getting a reversal of his own.

However, a late lapse by Cudd allowed Tucker to escape and get a take down to capture the lead. The match appeared to be heading to overtime with Cudd getting a point for riding time, but Tucker's take down was just in time. Cudd fell :01 short of the necessary 1:00 riding time needed to get a point.

"Colin lost focus and gave the guy his leg," Davis said. "He gets over-aggressive at times and gives up position."

Purdue's Chris Fleeger was able to pull the Boilermakers closer, but it was just not enough as Wisconsin's Ed Gutnik was able to pin his opponent to seal the Badger victory.

Next up for the Badgers is a trip to Minnesota on Friday, where they face off with the top-ranked Golden Gophers before they return for their final home match of the season next Sunday against Ohio State.