Damon Frenchers came all the way from St. Louis to watch the undefeated No. 3 Missouri Tigers wrestling team take on No. 7 Oklahoma State on Friday at the Hearnes Center.

“We got a real good wrestling team, it’s been impressive,” Frenchers said. “I saw their ranking and thought it would be fun to come out.”

Frenchers, who is a Mizzou alum and former football player for the Tigers, was one of 2,529 fans in attendance. That total is good for third-highest in program history.

The Tigers treated the crowd to a 22-10 duel win en route to their 20th consecutive duel victory dating back to last year. At 16-0, Missouri is off to its best start in program history. The previous mark of 15-0 was set by the 1967-68 Tigers team.

“Everyone on the team has been working so hard. It’s exciting to finally get a good amount of fans out,” senior No. 2 Drake Houdashelt said. “It definitely helps in close matches and makes it tougher on the other team too.”

Friday night’s bout featured three Southern Scuffle rematches between ranked wrestlers.

Senior No. 1 Alan Waters (125 pounds) once again defeated Oklahoma State junior No. 10 Eddie Klimara in a rematch of their semifinal bout in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Waters burst out of the gate for an early 5-0 lead but ran out of steam towards the end of the second period. Klimara came within one point of Waters after a late push but eventually lost via a 9-8 decision.

Missouri coach Brian Smith said he liked the first six minutes of Waters’ match, but that he has to learn to wrestle better at the end of duels.

Sophomore No. 1 J’den Cox beat Oklahoma State sophomore Luke Bean for a second time.

The duel was quiet for the first period and headed into the second knotted up at zero.

Early in the second, Bean appeared to gouge Cox in the eye, causing the defending national champion to kneel with his head cradled in his hands. After a brief period, Cox returned to the center of the mat.

Almost immediately after the match restarted, Cox lifted Bean off of his feet and threw him down for an emphatic takedown. Cox would go on to win the match by a 5-0 decision.

Smith revealed after the duel that Cox hadn’t been feeling 100 percent.

“He warmed up today and almost fell down he was so tired,” he said. “He’s been on all sorts of medications for flu but he found a way though.”

Freshman No. 9 Willie Miklus’ duel against Oklahoma State sophomore No. 15 Nolan Boyd also started slowly.

The officials stopped the match with 37 seconds left in the first period to review a potential takedown for Boyd. They determined that Boyd did indeed score a takedown, and that Miklus scored a subsequent escape.

The match went into the second period with Boyd leading Miklus 2-1.

Miklus recorded three takedowns over the next two periods and defeated Boyd by an 8-5.

There would have been four Southern Scuffle rematches if it weren’t for Oklahoma State scratching senior No. 9 Josh Kindig during weigh-ins prior to his scheduled duel with Houdashelt.

“I would have preferred to see him,” Houdashelt said. “My game plan doesn’t change though. I just go out there, wrestle and try to score as many points as I can.”

As it was, Houdashelt cruised to a 13-4 major decision over the Cowboy’s Davey Dolan.

Senior No. 5 Johnny Eblen faced off against Oklahoma State’s Kyle Crutchmer in a tight duel that was decided in overtime.

Crutchmer scored the first takedown with one minute left in the first period. After two escapes and a stalling penalty, Eblen took a 3-2 lead into the third period.

The match headed into the tiebreaker period after Crutchmer evened the score with a late escape. Crutchmer continued to stall in overtime but finally fell to Eblen after an escape in the tiebreaker period.

“He just kept running away from me,” Eblen said. “I just had the better tank; I had the will to win. He didn’t, he just gave up.”

Missouri’s next duel will be Sunday afternoon at the Hearnes Center against an unranked Northern Illinois squad.

But some wrestlers, like Eblen, are looking further ahead.

“We just blew up Okie St. and they’re a damn good team,” Eblen said. “It just shows we can win a national title.”