The third-seeded Pitt-Johnstown wrestling team spotted No. 13 Limestone (SC) College a five-point lead after three bouts in Friday's First Round of the NWCA Division II Wrestling Duals in Louisville, KY, but came back with five straight wins, including technical fall from Brock Biddle (174 lbs.) and Connor Craig (184 lbs.), to down the Saints, 31-13.
 
The Mountain Cats, 11-2 on the year, will take on No. 6 Nebraska-Kearney in Friday's Quarterfinals at 3 p.m.  Nebraska-Kearney defeated Bellarmine (KY), 36-3 in its opening round match.
 
Fifth-ranked Brendan Howard's 12-2 major decision over James Sass to open the match at 125 lbs. got the Mountain Cats off to a good start, but Limestone used a fall from Majid Corbit at 133 lbs. and a 9-3 decision by John Burger over No. 8 Jacob Ealy to go in front, 9-4.
 
Pitt-Johnstown stormed back with five consecutive win.  Back-to-back major decision wins at 149 and 157 lbs. gave the lead back to the Mountain Cats at 12-9.  At 149 lbs., top-ranked Chris Eddins shutout Phil Ruiz, 8-0, and Nate Smith followed with a 16-5 win over Kurtis Aimable at 257 lbs.
 
Third-ranked Devin Austin held off 11^th-ranked Garrett Beam, 4-2, at 165 lbs. and fifth-ranked Biddle scored a 17-0 technical fall at 5:00 over Kenneth Prince to increase the Pitt-Johnstown lead to 20-9 with three bouts remaining.
 
Another technical fall, this time a 16-0 shutout from fourth-ranked Craig over David Ulgalde at 184 lbs. pushed it out to 25-9 and sealed the Mountain Cat victory.
 
Limestone got a major decision win at 197 lbs. from fourth-ranked Matt Rudy, but Allan Beattie closed out the victory by pinning Jervey Sistrunk at 1:04.
 
The Mountain Cats travel to the Kutztown Duals on Friday and Saturday and to Seton Hill for a PSAC match on January 25.  Pitt-Johnstown will wrestle its next home match on Friday, February 7 as part of Pitt-Johnstown Alumni Weekend.  The Mountain Cats will host PSAC rival Mercyhurst at 7 p.m. in the Sports Center.