St. Louis, Mo., March 18, 2005 - The second day of the 2005 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Mo., started badly for Penn State but ended in big smiles as junior Eric Bradley (Plaistow, N.H.) and freshman Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.) rebounded from tough quarterfinal losses to post wins in the consolation bracket and earn the first All-America honors of their careers. Bradley returned to post another win later in the evening and can still finish as high as third in the tournament. Davis fell in his subsequent match and will wrestle for seventh on Saturday.

For Bradley, a late third period takedown helped quell the memories of another tough NCAA tournament loss to a Big Ten foe and got him over the All-American hump in his second NCAA appearance. Moments later on the other side of the Savvis Center, Davis displayed stellar mat wrestling in downing his third seeded wrestler of the tournament and becoming just the sixth Nittany Lion to earn All-America honors as a freshman.

"I'm just very proud of the way they both bounced back from hard-fought quarterfinal losses and didn't let their heads hang," a happy Penn State head coach Troy Sunderland said moments after Davis posted three near-falls in a 12-6 defeat of No. 3 seed Chris Stretkowicz. "Bradley made a great comeback in the third period and did exactly what he had to do to win and Phil, he was just huge. He beat the 10, seven and now number three seed, and his only loss has come to the number two seed. The caliber of competition he has wrestled in this tournament is just unbelievable."

Three other Nittany Lions, senior Adam Smith, junior Joel Edwards and sophomore State College High graduate Nate Galloway, had their tournaments ended on the day with losses. Smith and Galloway after winning their opening bouts on the day and Edwards in his first match of the day.

Things looked to be sliding south again for Penn State when Bradley, the No. 4 seed at 184 pounds, trailed Ryan Halsey 1-0 with two minutes of riding time on the board for Halsey late in the third period. Bradley had suffered a 6-0 loss to No. 5 seed Brian Glynn, a wrestler he defeated two weeks earlier to win his second Big Ten title, in the 184-pound quarterfinals earlier in the day and had been unable to convert a takedown in any of his NCAA matches to that point.

"It was looking dim," Sunderland said of Bradley's situation heading into the third period. "But, he cut him and kept working his leg attacks and was finally able to capitalize." The match score was tied at 1-1 when Halsey was hit with a stalling penalty in the third period and then Bradley, who was unable to get an escape after taking the down position to start the second, finally got in deep and converted a takedown with 15 seconds remaining and rode out the remaining seconds.

Bradley returned later in the evening to rack up three takedowns and an escape in an 8-4 victory over Matt Pell. He will take on No. 3 seed Travis Pascoe, a semifinal loser, in Saturday morning's consolation semifinals.

Davis, who had his run in the championship bracket ended with a 9-4 loss to No. 2 seed and former NCAA champion Jake Rosholt in the 197-pound quarterfinals, jumped all over Stretkowicz, from the start. He took the 2004 All-American down and turned him for a three-point near-fall in the first period and after a scoreless second added a pair of takedowns and three-point near-fall in the third. Stretkowicz got reversals in the first and third periods and an escape, but Davis left with a handy 12-6 decision.

He took on No. 12 seed Wynn Michalak in his following match and after trading takedowns and escapes in the first period gave up a takedown in the final 30 seconds as the Central Michigan wrestler prevailed 6-5. Davis will take on Ryan Flaherty in the seventh place match on Saturday morning. Penn State stood 25th in the team standings with 21.5 points. Oklahoma State led with 127.5 points followed by Cornell (71.5), Michigan (67), Minnesota (66) and Iowa (64) in the top five.

The unseeded Galloway pulled off his second upset of a top 10 seed in the tournament as he knocked off No. 4 seeeded Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov in overtime, 7-3, to advance in his opening consolation bracket match of the day at 157. The match went to the first round of 30-second ride-outs where Galloway, taking the down position after Abdurakhmanov escaped in the opening tiebreaker period, converted a reversal and then got a two-point near-fall for the win.

His next match against Big Ten foe Brandon Becker of Indiana, a wrestler he owned a 2-1 record against on the season, also went to overtime, but this time Becker, who pinned Galloway in the opening round of the Big Ten Championships, converted a takedown with just three seconds remaining in the one-minute overtime period and then rolled Galloway to his back for a two-point near-fall to claim an 8-4 win.

Smith got his second win of the tournament Friday morning as he downed Matt Pitts 6-4 in his first consolation round bout at 125. He ran into No. 8 seed Bobbe Lowe in the next round. Smith defeated Lowe 5-2 two weeks earlier to advance to the third place bout at the Big Ten Championships. However, this time Lowe prevailed with a 4-3 victory that ended the four-year Nittany Lion starter's career with a 90-61 record.

Edwards faced Jake Hager in his first match of the Friday session. Down early, Edwards came back to take the lead with an escape and takedown in the second period, but gave up a late third period takedown and 1:22 in riding time advantage and took a 5-4 loss to the Oklahoma heavyweight.

Penn State NCAATournament Scores Tournament Overall: 14-11 Pigtails: 1-1 First Round: 4-1 Second Round: 2-2 Quarterfinals: 0-2 Consolation Rounds: 7-5 184 - (4) Eric Bradley - All-American W, 2-1 vs. T.J. Morrison, Rider W, 3-2;tb2 over Ben Wissel, Purdue Quarterfinal L, 6-0 (5) Brian Glynn, Illinois Consolations W, 3-2 vs. Ryan Halsey, Cal Poly W, 8-4 vs. Matt Pell, Missouri Consolation Semifinal Vs. (3) Travis Pascoe, Nebraska Season Record: 30-4 Tournament Record: 4-1 197 - Phil Davis - All-American W, 7-1 vs. (10) Jerry Rinaldi, Cornell W, 3-1 vs. (7) Ryan Bader, Arizona St. Quarterfinal L, 9-4 (2) Jake Rosholt, Oklahoma St. Consolations W, 12-6 vs. (3) Chris Skretkowicz, Hofstra L, 6-5 to (12) Wynn Michalak, Central Michigan Seventh Place Match Vs. Ryan Flaherty, Wisconsin Season Record: 36-10 Tournament Record: 3-2 125 - Adam Smith - Out of Tournament W, 6-2 vs. Shawn Cordell, W. Va. L, 8-2 to (1) Sam Hazewinkel, Oklahoma W, 6-4 vs. Matt Pitts, Chattanooga L, 4-3 to (8) Bobbe Lowe, Minnesota Season Record: 25-14 Tournament Record: 2-2 133 - Bryan Heller - Out of Tournament L, 10-8;sv to Tony Curto, Bloomsburg L, 6-5 to T.J. Enright, Ohio State Season Record: 22-17 Tournament Record: 0-2 157 - Nathan Galloway - Out of Tournament W, 5-3 vs. Paul Bjorlo, Virginia W, 7-4 vs. (7) Matt Lebe, West Virginia L, 4-2 to (10) Brian Stith, Arizona St. W, 7-3;tb1 (4) Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov, American L, 8-4;sv to Brandon Becker, Indiana Season Record: 31-16 Tournament Record: 3-2 Hwt. - Joel Edwards - Out of Tournament L, F;1:52 to Peter Ziminski, Eastern Illinois W, 7-1 vs. Chris Cowen, Drexel W, 5-3 vs. Adam LoPiccolo, American L, 5-4 to Jake Hager, Oklahoma Season Record: 24-16 Tournament Record: 2-2