BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It wasn't always the prettiest basketball on Friday night when the Geneva College men's basketball team hosted a struggling Bethany College squad, but the Golden Tornadoes did enough to hang on for a much-needed victory, breaking a three-game losing streak, 63-56.  Geneva improved to 7-10, 4-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Bethany fell to 2-16, 1-8 in the PAC.

The Geneva offense came out sluggish in the first half, and Bethany stayed with the Golden Tornadoes early.  With Geneva leading 10-6 five minutes into the game, the Golden Tornadoes went scoreless over the next six minutes, and the Bison took advantage by scoring 12 straight points, leaving Geneva trailing 18-10 with just over seven minutes until halftime.  The Golden Tornadoes finally responded by scoring seven straight points, five of them by senior Eric McGee (Tampa, Fl./Seffner Christian) along with a dunk by senior David Oliver (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley).  Bethany would stretch the lead back out to 22-17 with five minutes remaining, but Geneva closed the half on a 12-5 run to take a 29-27 lead into halftime.  McGee had seven points in the half.

Geneva put together a strong offensive stretch to start the second half and took what appeared to be a commanding 45-31 lead with 13 minutes remaining after sophomore R.J. Bell (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon McMillan) hit what would prove to be Geneva's only 3-pointer of the game.  However, Geneva couldn't shake the Bison, as Bethany hit back-to-back 3-pointers to immediately cut the deficit back to eight, 45-37.  Geneva maintained that margin over the next ten minutes, going up 56-45 with 2:33 remaining on a layup from Oliver, but multiple turnovers late by Geneva enabled Bethany to close to within four points, 60-56, with 18 seconds remaining before Geneva made three late free throws to finish off the Bison, 63-56.

"I'm proud of the guys for fighting through and coming up with a much-needed win," Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero said.  "We haven't been playing well lately, and we weren't great tonight, but we played well enough to pick up the victory.  Credit to Bethany for pushing us all the way to the end.  David Oliver had a very good game, one of the best all-around games he's had in a Geneva uniform, finishing, rebounding, and defending.  Now we have to go get ready for W&J."

McGee led the offense with 17 points and six assists.  Junior Ethan Moose (New Castle, Pa./Neshannock) added 12 points, and Oliver finished with 10.  Geneva shot just 38% from the floor, but it held Bethany to just 34%.  The Bison were led by Allayasa Bray's 15 points.

Geneva heads out to Washington & Jefferson on Wednesday for an 8:00 p.m. tipoff before coming home next Saturday to host non-conference opponent Thomas More at 3:30 p.m.


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.