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Geneva College Athletics

official home of the geneva college golden tornadoes
geneva college golden tornadoes
geneva college golden tornadoes
Torok4
80
Geneva GEN 10-11, 6-8 PAC
86
Winner Thomas More TMC 17-4, 13-1 PAC
Geneva GEN
10-11, 6-8 PAC
80
Final
86
Thomas More TMC
17-4, 13-1 PAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Geneva GEN 37 43 80
Thomas More TMC 37 49 86

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Geneva Falters Down the Stretch at Thomas More

Crestview Hill, KY—For the Geneva College men's basketball team, the first 36 minutes of its game at first-place Thomas More on Saturday proved to be some of its best basketball of the season, and the Golden Tornadoes put themselves in great position to come up with one of its best wins in the last couple of seasons.  Unfortunately, a miserable last four minutes negated the Golden Tornadoes strong early play as Thomas More scored 20 straight points late in the game to erase a 13 point Geneva lead, and the Saints held on for a dramatic comeback victory, 86-80.  Geneva's record fell to 10-11 overall, 6-8 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while the Saints improved to 17-4 overall, 13-1 in the PAC.

Geneva's sophomore Ethan Moose opened the scoring with a layup, and the teams traded baskets back and forth for most of the first half.  Every time Thomas More tried to extend the lead out, Geneva answered.  Geneva trailed 16-11 ten minutes into the game, yet Geneva quickly tied it at 16 apiece on a jumper from Moose and a 3-pointer from junior Eric McGee.  Thomas More then built its biggest lead of the first half, 27-20, but Geneva once against responded with an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 29-28, with junior Danny Torok hitting key back-to-back 3-pointers in the run.  It was only fitting that the two teams went to halftime tied at 37-37.  Torok led the offense with nine points in the half, while McGee added eight points.

The game stayed tight early in the second half.  Geneva trailed just 55-54 ten minutes into the half when the Golden Tornadoes put together their best spurt of the afternoon, going on a 17-6 run to go up 71-61 with 5:55 remaining.  Geneva extended that lead to 78-65 after a layup from sophomore Nick Rusyn with 3:56 remaining.  Unfortunately, Geneva fell apart from there, and the Saints took advantage.  Over the next three minutes, Geneva committed five fouls, turned it over five times, and missed two front-ends of a one-and-one free throw situation.  That allowed Thomas More to score 20 straight points, and Geneva didn't have enough time left to recover, eventually losing a heartbreaking game, 86-80.

"I was very proud of our effort," Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero said afterwards.  "The last three minutes it became a very physical game, and when you're on the road, you have to finish better.  But it was great to see Danny Torok have a good game.  Now we have to refocus our attention towards Grove City on Wednesday."

Torok had a big game, finishing with a team-high 19 points, including 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range.  Senior Jimmy Leichliter finished with 16 points, adding four more 3-pointers of his own, while Moose and McGee also reached double figures with 10 points apiece.  Moose added 10 rebounds, giving him another double-double.  Geneva shot 50% from the floor and went 12-26 from 3-point range.  Thomas More played equally as well offensively, shooting 51%, including 11-25 from deep.  Damion King led the Saints with a game-high 23 points to go with 13 rebounds.

Geneva returns home on Wednesday to take on rival Grove City at 7:30 p.m.  Grove City comes in at 17-7 overall, 7-7 in the PAC.


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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