CHAMPAIGN – On the mat, this was about as close as a wrestling dual can get.

One match went to double overtime, two others into overtime. Three of the 10 bouts were decided by a single point. Two others by two points. And two more by four points.

On the scoreboard, though, close didn't cut it for the University of Illinois. In thewinner-take-all scoring rules of the sport, the eighth-ranked Illini paid dearly for repeatedly coming up short Saturday and lost 18-13 to No. 17 Purdue.

"I'm extremely disappointed," coach Mark Johnson said after his Illini dropped all three of the overtime matches and three others by margins of one, two and four points. "I can handle when we get beat by a better team and we perform well.

"But when you have so many matches all go one way, that tells me we're not doing something right as a team. I really believe they wanted to win more today."

The defeat was the Illini's first in six dual meets this season and ended their streak of dual-meet wins at nine. It was only the second loss in Illinois' last 24 duals, a streak dating back to the end of the 1995-96 season.

"Any time you beat a good team at their place, it's a big win," coach Jessie Reyes said after his Boilermakers improved to 7-1. "It could have gone either way. There were a lot of close matches. We happened to win the close ones."

The tone was set early, when Purdue jumped out to a 12-0 lead on the strength of two overtime victories and two other wins by margins of two and four points.

"We're in the matches early, and then at gut check time we checked out," Johnson complained.

Illinois should have suspected it would be in for a long day when Purdue's Josh Hutchins stunned fifth-ranked Carl Perry 9-7 in overtime at 126 pounds. Immediately after, Illinois 134-pounder Tony Siebert lost to Eric Kerkhof 6-4 in overtime.

"I figured we'd be favoredat 26 and 32," said Illini150-pounder Eric Siebert, "and I figured they'd be favored at 18 and 42. They won them all."

Eric Siebert, 20-1 and ranked second at 150, stemmed the tide for Illinois with an 11-5 victory. But then came two more one-point Purdue victories, the second in double overtime.

By then, the Illini trailed 18-3. And although Illinois won out the rest of the way, including a 17-7 major decision by Jevon Herman at 177, the damage had been done.

Purdue, after finishing 10th in the Big Ten Championships last March, has lost only to top-ranked Oklahoma State this season.

"We knew Purdue's tough," Eric Siebert said. "We knew if we didn't wrestle at our best, we weren't going to win.

"I think they just wanted to win more than we did."