BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College men's basketball team opened the home portion of its schedule on Thursday night in the opening game of the Coaches vs Cancer Tipoff against a strong Mount Union squad, and despite a hot shooting night from senior Danny Torok (Grove City, Pa./Grove City), Geneva fell short, 79-67.  Mount Union improved to 2-1, while Geneva suffered its first loss of the season and is now 1-1.

Geneva got off to a good start, helped by the hot shooting of Torok, and after a Torok 3-point shot went down with nine minutes remaining before halftime, Geneva had its biggest lead of the game, 22-15.  Unfortunately, the Golden Tornadoes struggled over the last nine minutes, and Mount Union took advantage by going on a 24-10 run to turn a seven-point deficit into a seven-point halftime lead, 39-32.  Torok led the offense with 13 points, including three 3-pointers.

Geneva started the second half well, and after back-to-back jumpers from senior David Oliver (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley), Geneva cut the deficit to 43-40 just three minutes into the half.  However, that was as close as Geneva would get, as Mount Union kept the margin between 5-to-10 points most of the remainder of the half.  After falling down by eleven, 71-60, with five minutes to go, Geneva responded with one last run, cutting the deficit to 71-66 with three minutes to go.  But on the following possession, Mount Union got two offensive rebounds which led to a back-breaking 3-pointer from Tommy Stenger, and Geneva could never recover in losing, 79-67.

"I'm proud of the effort from our guys tonight," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "We battled the whole game.  Things just came down to a few key moments where we didn't execute.  We gave up three offensive rebounds late, and we turned the ball over down the stretch.  Against good teams you can't do that.  I told the guys this game was going to be a good barometer for our team on what we need to work on, and we certainly learned some of the areas that we need to get better at.  So we'll work on those things as we get ready for Valley Forge on Saturday."

Torok led the offense with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range.  Oliver was the only other Geneva player in double figures with 13 points.  Geneva shot 44% from the floor overall.  Mount Union was led by Stenger, who finished with 17 points, while the Raiders shot 50% from the floor for the game.

Geneva has a quick turnaround as it hosts Valley Forge on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in its second game in the Coaches vs Cancer Tipoff.


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, fully online Adult Degree Programs, 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.