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Geneva College Athletics

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geneva college golden tornadoes
geneva college golden tornadoes
Torok
75
Winner Grove City GRO 15-7, 8-7
69
Geneva GEN 10-12, 6-9
Winner
Grove City GRO
15-7, 8-7
75
Final
69
Geneva GEN
10-12, 6-9
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Grove City GRO 28 47 75
Geneva GEN 35 34 69

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men Struggle in Second Half Against Grove City

Beaver Falls, PA—Wednesday night's game for the Geneva men's basketball team against rival Grove City was important for more than just rivalry reasons.  The Wolverines entered the evening one game ahead of the Golden Tornadoes in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) standings, and if Geneva had hopes of hosting a home playoff game in the conference tournament, it was a game it needed to win.  Despite a strong first half, though, Geneva's struggles in the second half ultimately cost it as Grove City came back for the 75-69 win.  Geneva fell to 10-12 overall, 6-9 in the PAC standings, while Grove City improved to 15-7 overall, 8-7 in the PAC.

Grove City scored the first five points of the game, but Geneva responded by going on a 15-3 run to open up a 15-8 lead.  Led by junior guard Danny Torok, who made all four of his 3-point attempts in the first half, Geneva continued to extend the lead out to 31-19 before settling for a 35-28 halftime lead.  Torok led all scorers with 12 points in the half.

Geneva continued to hold the momentum early in the second half, as senior Jimmy Leichliter scored six quick points, and when junior Eric McGee hit two free throws four minutes into the half, the lead was back up to 43-31.  From there Grove City began to take control of the game, though, as Geneva really struggled defensively to get stops.  The Wolverines went on a 27-10 run to regain the lead 58-53.  Back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Noah Damazo and Torok gave Geneva the lead back, 59-58.  However, sophomore Zane Laws, who came into the game averaging just four points a game for the Wolverines and hadn't scored in double figures all year, hit all four of his 3-point attempts down the stretch, and Grove City pulled away for the 75-69 win.

"It was a tale of two halves," Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero said after the game.  "We had good energy in the first half, and then we just lost that in the second half.  Give credit to Grove City.  They hit a lot of shots in that second half, and we went a little cold, but we need to finish games.  That's the issue right now, and hopefully we can get it figured out before we face Chatham on Saturday."

Torok led the offense with 15 points on five 3-point shots.  Both Leichliter and McGee added 12 points, while sophomore Ethan Moose finished with nine points and nine rebounds.  The difference in the game, though, was Grove City's outside shooting, as the Wolverines finished the game 11-21 from 3-point range for 52%.  Laws, who went 8-of-8 from the floor, including 5-of-5 from 3-point range, led all scorers with 22 points on the evening.

Geneva has its final home game on Saturday as the Golden Tornadoes host Chatham at 8:00 p.m.  Geneva will celebrate Senior Day as Leichliter, currently the 19th all-time leading scorer in Geneva College history, will play his final home game in Metheny Fieldhouse.


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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