Penn State wrestling headed to Iowa City, Iowa, March 5 and 6 for the Big Ten Tournament in hopes of sending all 10 Nittany Lions to the NCAA Championships later this week. Six made it through, with Eric Bradley defending his crown as the 184-pound Big Ten champion.

With seven wrestlers advancing from each weight class, the Lions were on the verge of sending nine representatives to St. Louis for the championships. Freshman Jack Decker, junior DeWitt Driscoll and sophomore James Yonoshunis finished eighth in their respective classes, losing their automatic entries.

"Everyone wrestled hard, we just didn't win those one-point matches," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said.

Sophomore Nate Galloway lost the seventh-place bout as well at 157 pounds after a controversial sequence at the end of the third period didn't go his way. The referees awarded his opponent a takedown after Galloway thought time expired. Galloway, however, will be headed south this weekend as he earned one of two wild-card bids.

Driscoll was not as fortunate in his trip to Hawkeye territory. A knee injury had kept the 141-pound star out of the lineup since Feb. 12. With a 2-1 record in the tournament prior to his match with unseeded Tommy Owen of Minnesota, Driscoll, the No. 7 seed, re-aggravated and worsened his knee injury. The injury forced him out of the tournament and put an earlier than expected end to his season.

The anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament are significantly torn, according to Sunderland. With surgery in a week, and months to rehab, Driscoll won't see the mat for seven to eight months.

The tournament proved to be a showcase for the shining star of Penn State's program. Second-seeded Bradley retained his title by defeating No.1 seed Ryan Glynn of Illinois. The victory was sweet for many reasons. Bradley became just the third Lion to win back-to-back Big Ten titles.

"Eric was able to get the takedown and do what he needed to do," Sunderland said. "He had three takedowns and three escapes to win the tournament."

Also, Glynn said in newspapers in Illinois that he had gotten into Bradley's head after Glynn beat him, 3-2, on Feb. 11. Bradley, who said he planned on giving Glynn a rude awakening, turned the 3-2 score in his favor, en route to re-establishing himself as the top the conference has to offer. But the grueling tournament Bradley endured has forced coaches to re-evaluate his approach if he's going to win a national title.

"He stays in good position and does what he needs to do," Sunderland said. "We're hoping he can give himself some greater margin for error so some of those close matches don't come back to haunt him."

Joel Edwards qualified for NCAAs as a heavyweight, after he won the decisive seventh-place match. And senior Adam Smith, the tourney's sixth seed, earned a few upsets and walked away with a career-best fourth-place finish.

Freshmen Bryan Heller and Phil Davis round out the Lions heading to the NCAAs, set to begin Thursday.