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Geneva College Athletics

official home of the geneva college golden tornadoes
geneva college golden tornadoes
geneva college golden tornadoes
Ethan_Moose
64
Thiel THI 6-12, 4-9
69
Winner Geneva GEN 10-10, 6-7
Thiel THI
6-12, 4-9
64
Final
69
Geneva GEN
10-10, 6-7
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Thiel THI 34 30 64
Geneva GEN 26 43 69

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Geneva Struggles Early, but Comes Back to Defeat Thiel

Beaver Falls, PA—Geneva College men's basketball team faced off against Thiel College on Wednesday night, the team directly behind it in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), and a team that defeated Geneva earlier in the season on a last second buzzer beater on Thiel's home floor.  Despite the importance of the game, Geneva played one of its worst halves of basketball this season in the first half in falling behind by double digits.  However, the Golden Tornadoes responded by storming back in the second half and knocking of Thiel, 69-64, to give Geneva the much needed victory.  Geneva's record improved to 10-10 overall, 6-7 in the PAC, while Thiel fell to 6-12 overall, 4-9 in the PAC.

The game couldn't have started much worse for the Golden Tornadoes.  The squad was ice cold from the floor, managing only seven points in the first ten minutes of the game.  Thiel took full advantage, led mainly by Thiel's leading scorer, senior Tyreik Burton, as the Tomcats jumped out to a 22-7 lead.  Burton had 13 points in those first ten minutes, including three 3-pointers.  However, Geneva slowly began to cut into the big Tomcat lead, and when sophomore Ethan Moose scored late in the half, it allowed Geneva to cut the deficit to single digits, 34-26, heading into the halftime break.  Moose led the team with 13 points, but it was an ugly half for the Golden Tornadoes, particularly from the free throw line where Geneva made just 4-15 free throws, very unusual for a Golden Tornado squad that came in as the leading free throw shooting team in the PAC.

Geneva started the second half with much more energy, and a 9-2 run to open the half closed the gap to just one, 36-35.  Six minutes later a layup from Moose gave Geneva its first lead of the game, 45-44, and it was a lead Geneva would never relinquish.  Led by Moose and senior Jimmy Leichliter, the Golden Tornadoes locked down defensively and methodically extended the lead to their largest of the game, 61-52, on a layup from junior Matt Dragan with 3:11 remaining.  However, Thiel did not give up easily, and the Tomcats cut the lead to just two points, 64-62, with just under a minute to go.  Unlike in the first half, though, Geneva made its free throws down the stretch, and sophomore Noah Damazo converted an important bucket as he was fouled with 26 seconds remaining to clinch the victory, 69-64.

"We really battled in the second half and won the game on the defensive end," Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero said afterwards.  "The first ten minutes was probably the worst basketball we played all year.  I thought our ability to get the deficit under ten points before halftime was really important.  I'm proud of our effort, but I told the guys that we've got to do better than that.  But it was good to see our two leading scorers, Ethan and Jimmy, step up and take over the game when we needed them, though I thought Noah Damazo was really the difference in the game.  His energy, particularly his defense and his hustle, and the big shot late, was really key to us winning this game."

Moose had another big night, finishing with 23 points and nine rebounds.  Leichliter ended up with 20 points, as the two were the only Geneva players to make it into double figures on the night.  After a rough first half offensively, Geneva shot 59% from the floor in the second half, as well as going 10-13 from the foul line.  Thiel was led by Burton, who finished with a game high 26 points, though only seven of those points came in the second half when Geneva made its comeback.

Geneva travels to take on first place Thomas More on Saturday for the final time, as the Saints are leaving the conference at the end of the season.  The tipoff is at 3:00 p.m.  Geneva then returns home next Wednesday for a game against rival Grove City at 7:30 p.m.


Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, Adult Degree Programs with fully online and classroom options, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.
 
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