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Geneva College Athletics

official home of the geneva college golden tornadoes
geneva college golden tornadoes
geneva college golden tornadoes
Jimmy11
50
Geneva GEN 12-15
67
Winner Thomas More TMC 22-5
Geneva GEN
12-15
50
Final
67
Thomas More TMC
22-5
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Geneva GEN 18 32 50
Thomas More TMC 32 35 67

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Season Ends at Thomas More

CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. – The Geneva men's basketball team headed to #1 seed Thomas More for the semifinals of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) playoffs on Thursday night armed with the knowledge that it played the Saints down to the wire in the two regular season games, hoping that the third time would be the charm.  Unfortunately, a bad first half proved too hard to overcome as the Golden Tornadoes could not stay with the Saints this time, and its season ended with a 67-50 loss.  Geneva finished its season with a record of 12-15.

Geneva hung with Thomas More early, and a layup from junior Danny Torok knotted the score at 13-13 with thirteen minutes remaining.  At that point the game got away from the Golden Tornadoes, as they went cold offensively.  Thomas More scored the next 12 points to go up 25-13, and the Saints eventually finished the half ahead 32-18 as Geneva scored just five points over the final thirteen minutes, putting the Golden Tornadoes in a huge hole.  Senior Jimmy Leichliter led the offense with seven points in the half.

Any hopes Geneva had of a comeback ended early in the second half, as Geneva could never get back into the game.  Thomas More went up 45-24 five minutes into the half, and the Golden Tornadoes could never recover, losing 67-50.

"Thomas More certainly played like the defending PAC champions tonight," Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero said.  "I thought we had good energy early and maybe we were riding on emotion but their runs took their toll on us.  Jimmy had a solid night to end his Geneva basketball career.  David Oliver did some good things off the bench.  We definitely have some positives to build off of for next year.  I'm so proud of our effort, though.  We were in every game in the PAC this season.  I just want to thank to all the students, faculty, and staff for their support.  We hope we made them proud!"

Leichliter had another big game as he carried the team offensively down the stretch of the season.  He finished 27 points, including 7-of-14 shooting from 3-point range.  Unfortunately Leichliter didn't get a lot of help, as no other Golden Tornado finished with more than six points.  Geneva shot just 34% from the floor and committed 17 turnovers, which made it too difficult for the Golden Tornadoes to beat the #1 seed Saints.  Thomas More had a balanced attack, with four players in double figures.

Leichliter finished his distinguished career as the 13th all-time leading scorer in Geneva College history with 1,450 points, and his graduation will leave a big hole.  But the rest of the Golden Tornadoes return as Geneva looks to build on its PAC semifinal appearance.


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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