NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Rutgers won five of nine bouts, two by bonus points, to take a 24-12 victory over East Stroudsburg University in EIWA wrestling on Thursday night in New Jersey.

The Scarlet Knights opened a 17-3 lead in the dual, which began at 157, before ESU won three of the last five matches. Senior Scott Heckman, wrestling in his first dual of the season at 165, posted a 5-4 decision over Matt Pletcher to get the Warriors on the board.

At 285, sophomore Chris Birchler improved to 18-4 on the season with a 6-5 decision of Karim Mahmoud. Birchler is 6-1 in dual competition this year.

ESU also received identical 3-1 decisions from Matt Swallow at 133 and Sean Carr at 141. Swallow improves to 15-7 and Carr is 16-6 on the season; both are 5-3 in duals.

In the 184-pound bout, Keith Dobish posted an 11-9 overtime victory against ESU's Shane Mallory, who falls to 15-8.

ESU will host Navy in its next dual on Friday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Rutgers 24, ESU 12
157 - Chris Norrell (RU) dec. Kyle Heselpoth, 8-5
165 - Scott Heckman (ESU) dec. Matt Pletcher, 5-4
174 - Mike Whalen (RU) tech. fall Tom Pagano, 17-2
184 - Keith Dobish (RU) dec. Shane Mallory, 11-9 (OT)
197 - Lamar Brown (RU), forfeit
285 - Chris Birchler (ESU) dec. Karim Mahmoud, 6-5
125 - Ryan Jablonski (RU) dec. Matthew Benedetti, 8-3
133 - Matt Swallow (ESU) dec. Dan Hilt, 3-1
141 - Sean Carr (ESU) dec. Reggie Parker, 3-1
149 - Jack Barrett (RU) maj. dec. Jesse Dunn, 9-0