Kent State's Ian Miller responds to controversy with two wins

Get over it.And really, what other choice did Kent State wrestler Ian Miller have?The 2011 Oak Harbor graduate became the talk of the NCAA wrestling championships in St. Louis Friday, and drew waves of support — and outrage toward the NCAA — after his 157-pound quarterfinal was incorrectly scored.Despite the error, the former Rocket standout can still finish as high as third and no worse than sixth today.The No. 7 seed in the bracket, Miller actually let a 9-4 lead in the quarterfinals against No. 2 seed Brian Realbuto (23-2) of Cornell slip away, as his opponent rallied to force a 9-9 tie and sudden victory. Just 16 seconds into the extra session, Realbuto scored a takedown for the 11-9 win.Except there was one problem: Miller was never awarded his riding time bonus point through regulation and should have won the match, 10-9.About an hour after the match, Kent State coach Jim Andrassy was told that the score was indeed wrong — but it still wasn't going to be overturned.But instead of sulk or complain about it, Miller put on a clinic — perhaps the best of the tournament to even rival a Logan Stieber performance — by scoring a staggering 10 takedowns and a 24-6 technical fall win in the consolations to assure he will again be an All-American for the Golden Flashes."It's the tournament, you have to get over it," Miller said Friday night. "Stuff happens. I just had to come back to battle and place as high as I can."I just sat in my hotel room with my mom and just talked," he added. "Then we found out it wasn't being overturned, and she just told me I had to get over it and battle back. So that's what I'm going to do."Because there was so much public outcry, the NCAA also released a statement Friday afternoon:"The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee met to discuss the scoring error in the match between Brian Realbuto and Ian Miller, and our determination was that there is a protocol in place for coaches to challenge errors in a match via the coaches challenge (Rule 3.21.2 b). Kent State had challenges remaining and did not raise the challenge flag to declare an error in the match, therefore the resulting Cornell victory stands."That response, however, is tough for Andrassy to accept."They admitted they were wrong," Andrassy said. "To be honest, I thought it was wrong, but wasn't one hundred percent sure. It didn't seem right. We asked them to watch the match over again, they did, and came back and confirmed the score was wrong. They made the decision to keep it the way it is. "My emotions, with everything we have now a days with technology … we got ESPN here and stuff like that and still can't get it right," he added. "If it's a bad call, you accept it. But to not get a score right … this wasn't one of those things in the first or second period, they missed it in the last seven seconds. It's hard to swallow."Andrassy also noted he was sat back down at one point when he did realize the score was wrong."As soon as we left the mat, there was nothing we could do about it was the answer we got," he said. "In our defense as a staff, you get caught up in the mat. I knew the score was wrong, went to the head table, but the side ref said I was wrong and sat me down."Miller was in complete control of the controversial match — but disaster struck.Miller led 4-3 going into the third period, and went in for a single-leg and got two points for a 6-3 lead at the 1:41 mark. After Realbuto got an escape to make it 6-4, Miller again went in for two and was rewarded, jumping out to an 8-4 lead.It was 9-4 with under 50 seconds left, but Realbuto shot in low and was able to turn Miller briefly on his back for three points to make it 9-7. With time winding down, Realbuto scored two more points to force a 60-second sudden victory period.With the momentum in his corner, it took Realbuto just 16 seconds to take Miller down for two more points to come away with the shocking 11-9 win by decision.Whether it was anger or just simply an intense focus, Miller absolutely destroyed Alex Elder (Oregon State). Leading 14-5 in the third period after eight takedowns, Miller had enough, and dropped in back-to-back near fall sequences for 10 quick points and an impressive 24-6 win.As if that wasn't enough, Miller then tweaked his knee in his second consolation match of the night against Michigan's Murphy, but he still gutted out an 8-4 decision.He wrestles Nebraska's James Green today for the right to wrestle for third place."It means something to me," Miller said. "It's not as much or as high as I wanted, but I have to do whatever I can now. I love the support everyone gave me today, it's been really nice."Register photo/ANGELA WILHELM Kent State's Ian Miller wrestles Cornell's Brian Realbuto Friday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Miller lost the match in sudden victory.Register photo/ANGELA WILHELM Kent State's Ian Miller wrestles Cornell's Brian Realbuto Friday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.