Michigan falls hard to Illini, nips Boilers By Ryan C. Moloney Daily Sports Writer FORT WAYNE Ind. - Tucked in a cozy corner of northern Indiana, the gym in Carroll High School proved itself a Hoosiers-esque backdrop for a team that is fast becoming a real-life incarnation of the scrappy Hickory Huskers. The Michigan wrestling team, undermanned and fatigued, squeezed out a victory over Purdue yesterday 21-15. In true Hollywood fashion, the Wolverines took it down to the wire, needing a Damian Logan pin on Purdue's Luis Blanco to break a 15-15 stalemate. On Friday night against Illinois, the script wasn't quite as good - not even B-movie material. Michigan ran into an orange and blue brickwall - but the 26-9 final could be considered an accomplishment in some respects. "The guys really fought admirably," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "They tried hard but we just don't have the horsepower Illinois has right now." Illinois entered the contest with eight ranked wrestlers among their top 10, and results to back up a considerably higher ranking than their current slot at No. 6. "We've beaten Minnesota, Iowa State and Oklahoma in tournaments and yet we're behind them," Illinois coach Mark Johnson said. "We think we're a pretty good team - we'll figure it all out at the end of the year, anyway." For a while, it looked like Michigan had the Illini all figured out. Andy Hrovat, ranked No. 12, started things off with a tight 7-5 win at 184 pounds over No. 4 Nate Patrick. In the 197 match, Joe DeGain ripped off a surprising clutch victory in double overtime with an escape from Pat Quirk. Just like that, Michigan led 6-0. "When you lose a match you're heavily favored in, you can't afford to do that too often," Johnson said. "There were some alarms going off in my head." In the heavyweight class, Michigan's Matt Brink lost a close, but largely defensive battle, 4-2 to John Lockhart. But the tide turned for good when A.J. Grant was pinned by Ryan Escobar at the 2:45 mark of the first round at 125. The loss keyed off a tough weekend for Grant - he was major decisioned yesterday by Purdue's Jason Silverstein, 14-5. "A.J.'s standing around too much," McFarland said. "When you stand around, bad things happen - he gave (Silverstein) too much respect today." Michigan started in similar fashion against Purdue, with Mike Kulczycki and Tony Holifield recording close minor decisions at 140 and 157, respectively. After a Mark Churella loss, Charles Martelli recorded his first victory of the year with a 5-4 minor over Jon Fitch at 174."It was definitely nice to get a victory where it was more important to him," Martelli said of his win over hometown favorite Fitch. "(The work) has all paid off." Originally on page 3B in the 1-31-2000 issue of the Daily.