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Geneva College Athletics

official home of the geneva college golden tornadoes
geneva college golden tornadoes
geneva college golden tornadoes
Jimmy1
64
Franciscan FRA 3-11
74
Winner Geneva GEN 5-8
Franciscan FRA
3-11
64
Final
74
Geneva GEN
5-8
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Franciscan FRA 28 36 64
Geneva GEN 31 43 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Balanced Scoring Leads to Geneva Victory

Beaver Falls, PA—After three straight losses that went down to the wire, the Geneva College men's basketball team let out some frustration in its final non-conference game of the season as the Golden Tornadoes defeated the visiting Franciscan University Barons, 74-64.  Geneva got a balanced attack as four players finished in double figures.  Geneva's record improved to 5-8 overall, while Franciscan fell to 3-11.

The game started slowly, as neither team could find the range, and five minutes into the game, Geneva led just 5-4.  A 3-pointer from junior Danny Torok and layup from junior Matt Dragan got Geneva started on a run that increased the lead to 17-11.  But Geneva could not pull away from the scrappy Franciscan team, and Geneva took a 31-28 lead into the halftime break.  Sophomore Ethan Moose and junior Eric McGee both had nine points in the half.

Early in the second half Geneva used a 10-0 run to go up 45-32 as senior Jimmy Leichliter hit back to back jumpers to finish the run.  Geneva continued to extend the lead out, and the Golden Tornadoes led by as many as 18 points, 56-38, after a 3-pointer from sophomore Noah Damazo with 7:14 remaining.  From there the Barons began to slowly chip away at the lead, and they closed the gap to as close as seven points with 1:07 remaining, but Geneva made enough free throws down the stretch to hold off Franciscan for the 74-64 victory.

"It was a good win for us to come back with after a tough loss on Saturday," Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero said.  "We definitely didn't play perfect, and we didn't shoot it all that well, but we fought hard and made some good things happen when we needed to.  Jimmy really led us.  And Ethan was really good too, his typical self.  We really needed this, and it was good to get back into the win column heading back into conference play on Wednesday."

Geneva was led by Leichliter who scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.  Moose added 15 points as well, while McGee finished with 14 and Torok with 10 points.  Damazo just missed being the fifth Golden Tornado in double digits, as he finished with 8 points.  Geneva shot just 4-18 from 3-point range, but it held the Barons to just 40% shooting, including forcing 20 turnovers.

Geneva travels to Chatham University on Wednesday, January 10, for an 8:00 p.m. tipoff.  Chatham enters that contest at 4-9 overall, 1-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC).  Geneva then welcomes Waynesburg University on Saturday, January 13, for a 3:00 p.m. start time.  Waynesburg is currently 7-6 overall, 3-3 in the PAC.


Geneva College invites students to step forward and leap ahead with an academically excellent, Christ-centered and affordable education. Offering nearly 40 undergraduate majors, Adult Degree Programs with fully online and campus-based options, and high-demand advanced graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top 10 Best Value with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the inerrancy 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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