KEARNEY, Nebraska -- Nebraska-Kearney used a stunning early fall to take control and won a series of close decisions to hand Central Oklahoma a big 24-9 setback here Thursday night before a crowd of 1,513 in a showdown of NCAA Division II wrestling powers.

The top-ranked Antelopes scored a huge fall at 133 pounds to seize the momentum and went on to win two one-point matches and a pair of two-point decisions in taking seven of the 10 matches from the No. 3 Bronchos. UCO, now 12-4 on the year, goes to No. 2 Nebraska-Omaha Friday for a 7 p.m. dual.

"It's a disappointing loss," UCO coach David James said. "Obviously you've got to give a lot of credit to UNK, but we didn't show much fire and didn't open up like we needed to offensively. It won't get any easier tomorrow, so we'll find out what we're made of."

The Bronchos fell behind 9-0 after the first two matches, with a fall by UNK's top-rated Brett Allgood the big blow. Jared Henning had Allgood on his back for more than a minute and almost pinned him in the first period in taking a 5-0 lead, but Allgood reversed Henning to his back early in the second stanza and got the fall at the 4:20 mark.

UCO got on the scoreboard with Kyle Evans' tense 1-0 win at 141 pounds, but the Antelopes opened up a big 15-3 lead by pulling off consecutive upsets at 149 and 157.

No. 8 Matt True trimmed UCO's fourth-ranked Shea Timothy 2-1 at 149 when Timothy's third-period takedown tries failed and UNK's No. 7 Joe Ellenberger shocked top-rated Jason Leavitt 5-1 at 157. Leavitt appeared ready to break a 1-1 deadlock when he shot in on a single leg with 30 seconds left in that match, but Ellenberger came out of a mad scramble with a takedown and two-point near-fall to pull off the upset.

The Bronchos won the next two matches to pull within 15-9, but UNK took the final three weights to close it out.

Justin Wood used a pair of third-period takedowns to secure a 5-1 win for UCO at 165 and Pen Phillips had four takedowns in an easy 10-4 triumph at 174 before the Antelopes won three close matches.

UCO's fourth-ranked Jared Hess came up short with a third-period rally in dropping a 6-4 decision to No. 3 Matt Farrell at 184, UNK's No. 8 Kelsey Empting edged Heath Jolley 3-2 on the strength of a first-period takedown and the dual ended when the Antelopes' top-ranked Tervel Dlagnev topped No. 2 Josh LeadingFox 4-2 on a takedown with one second left in the second sudden victory period.

Nebraska-Kearney 24, UCO 9

125: Trevor Charboneau, UNK, dec. Tyler Zukerman, 5-1.

133: Brett Allgood, UNK, pinned Jared Henning, 4:20.

141: Kyle Evans, UCO, dec. Jeff Rutledge, 1-0.

149: Matt True, UNK, dec. Shea Timothy, 2-1.

157: Joe Ellenberger, UNK, dec. Jason Leavitt, 5-1.

165: Justin Wood, UCO, dec. Taylor May, 5-1.

174: Pen Phillips, UCO, dec. Dan Hospodka, 10-4.

184: Matt Farrell, UNK, dec. Jared Hess, 6-4.

197: Kelsey Empting, UNK, dec. Heath Jolley, 3-2.

285: Tervel Dlagnev, UNK, dec. Josh LeadingFox, 4-2 (2SV).