No. 2 Oklahoma State 21, No. 5 Iowa 15

Saturday, January 12th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) _ No. 2 Oklahoma State took advantage of pins by Will Gruenwald and Johnny Thompson to defeat No. 5 Iowa 21-15 Friday night, just the eighth loss ever for the Hawkeyes in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Oklahoma State owns six of those victories in the arena.

The previously unbeaten Hawkeyes split the matches, 5-5, but Oklahoma State had two falls. Pins by Gruenwald at 197 pounds over Ryan Fulsaas in three minutes, 34 seconds and Thompson over previously unbeaten Cliff Moore at 133 in 4:04 provided the deciding points.

``You can't get pinned in two matches in a dual like this and expect to win,'' Hawkeye coach Jim Zalesky said. ``Even though we won five matches, we should have won more.

``We didn't wrestle the way we coach. In the third period guys should be coming on. We shouldn't have guys hanging on trying to win. At 141 and 157 we were hanging on trying to win. They took advantage of things. We were not attacking. You'd better be able to come on.''

Gruenwald's fall may not have been a stunner, but Thompson's was. Moore had put together an 11-0 start despite recovering from knee surgery and recently won a Midlands championship.

Moore had scored the only point in the match at 133 on an escape when Thompson caught the sophomore from Dubuque in an underhook and head lock in the second period. Thompson took Moore straight to his back and quickly ended the pivotal match.

Ronnie Delk, who entered the dual with an 11-6 record, followed with what may have been the only upset of the dual. He beat Iowa's Luke Moffitt by outscoring Moffitt 7-0 in the third period at 141 pounds.

``That was probably a match not many people gave us a chance at. If there was a surprise, that was the surprise,'' Oklahoma State coach John Smith said of Delk. ``You can't pinpoint one match that was more important than the others. They all ended up being important.

``It was a team effort. Everything we did tonight was what it took. Anything less wouldn't and the match could have been tied. Every point mattered, every takedown mattered. It takes a whole team to win big matches on the road.''