Fans packed The Pavilion for Maryland wrestling’s dual against No. 1 Penn State. But instead of the Terps’ black and red, the stands were filled with a sea of blue as Nittany Lions fans made the trip to College Park to watch the most dominant program in college wrestling.

They weren’t disappointed.

The Terps lost, 42-6 to the Nittany Lions, as only two Maryland wrestlers won their matchups. The home team was still in the match at halftime, trailing 14-6, but four of Penn State’s final five wrestlers pinned their opponents to pull away.

“The scoreboard speaks for itself,” coach Alex Clemsen said after the match. “We didn’t compete in a couple of weights as well as I would have liked. A couple of weights, I thought we fought pretty hard and came up short. So overall, not enough, that’s for sure.”

Braxton Brown continues to dominate unranked opponents

Braxton Brown has been able to impose his will when facing lesser competition this season for Maryland (3-5, 1-4 Big Ten).

He continued that success against Penn State’s (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) unranked Baylor Shunk. Brown grabbed Shunk off an early shot and turned it into a deep single leg attempt, eventually securing the takedown for a 3-0 advantage. Late in the first period, Brown got aggressive and hunted for near fall points, but Shunk reversed the position to make it 3-2.

[Maryland wrestling suffers narrow 21-15 loss to Indiana]

Brown started the second from the bottom position and picked up a quick escape, then went back on the offensive. He got deep on another single leg attempt, secured a second takedown and rode out the rest of the period to secure a 7-2 advantage.

Shunk opened the final period from the bottom position, but Brown’s top pressure was too much for him and the Terp cruised to an 8-3 decision.

Ethen Miller stays hot with decisive win

Ethen Miller wrestled his best match of the season last week in a major decision over then-No. 14 Graham Rooks. He continued his strong play Sunday against Penn State redshirt freshman Connor Pierce.

Miller picked up an early 3-0 lead with a takedown. Pierce tried to escape, but Miller returned him to the mat on multiple occasions to ride out the rest of the period and maintain that advantage.

The Terps’ 149-pounder escaped quickly to start the second period to go up 4-0. Neither wrestler scored for the remainder of the frame.

[Maryland wrestling handled by No. 7 Ohio State, 38-4]

Miller started the final period on the offensive and looked to grow his lead. He got deep on shots multiple times, but Pierce fended him off with impressive defense. In the final seconds of the match, Miller shot for a single leg and brought Pierce crashing down to the mat as time expired for a decisive 5-0 win.

Jaxon Smith falters against nation’s best 197-pounder

Facing Intermat’s No. 1 Aaron Brooks, Smith fell behind early in the opening period. Brooks brought him down to the mat off a slick shot for an early 3-0 lead.

Smith escaped and kept Brooks scoreless for the rest of the period, showing impressive flexibility as he defended multiple takedown attempts.

Brooks’ relentless pressure helped him break through in the second. He found another takedown to go up 6-1 and kept Smith backpedaling after that.

Starting the final period from the bottom, Smith escaped and desperately needed a takedown to stay in the match.

He shot for a double leg and got deep, but Brooks overpowered and pancaked him, finding a takedown of his own to go up 10-3. Smith found another escape, but Brooks brought him back down to the mat to cap the 13-4 major decision win.

“I’d like to see us have another opportunity or two where we get our hands locked on a leg and maybe clean up our defensive touch,” Clemsen said when asked about Smith’s performance. “But those are things we can work on because we saw Jaxon fight very hard.”