BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It's been a frustrating season for the Geneva College men's basketball team.  Normally Metheny Fieldhouse provides Geneva with a strong home court advantage.  However, that hasn't been the case this season, and the Golden Tornadoes home struggles continued on Wednesday night against Westminster.  In a game that went down to the final possession, Geneva couldn't come up with the big play late and fell, 68-65, moving Geneva's home record to 4-7, including just 2-4 in conference games.  Westminster won its fifth straight to improve to 10-13, 9-6 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Geneva lost its fourth straight to fall to 8-14, 5-8 in the PAC.

Geneva took its biggest lead of the game early in the first half, using an 8-2 run to take a 16-11 lead eight minutes into the game after junior Nick Rusyn (Salem, Ohio/Salem) hit back-to-back layups off offensive rebounds.  However, Geneva's offense went cold from there, and Westminster took advantage with a huge run, 18-2, including 14 straight points, to go up 29-18.  Geneva scored two straight buckets to cut the deficit to seven, but Westminster stretched its lead to 34-22, its biggest of the game, with just over two minutes remaining.  The Golden Tornadoes had closed the margin to just five points, though, before Westminster hit what would prove to be a crucial 3-pointer at the buzzer to take a 38-30 lead into the break.  Rusyn had eight points and seven rebounds in the half.

Geneva slowly began to chip away at the lead in the second half, and after a 3-pointer from sophomore R.J. Bell (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon McMillan), Geneva closed to within 45-43 with 13 minutes remaining.  Four minutes later, senior David Oliver (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) converted a 3-point play to give Geneva its first lead since early in the first half, 52-51.

The key stretch of the second half came six minutes later.  After a jumper from junior Ethan Moose (New Castle, Pa./Neshannock) gave Geneva a 57-56 lead with seven minutes remaining, three straight Golden Tornado turnovers led to a layup and two quick Westminster 3-pointers, putting Geneva back in a seven point hole, 64-57.  The Golden Tornadoes didn't give up, though, and another jumper from Moose cut the deficit to 67-65 with just over a minute remaining.  Neither team could score on its next possession, and Geneva got one more stop to give it one last chance, but a turnover with less than five seconds remaining proved too much to overcome, and Westminster made a free throw with one second left for the final score, 68-65.

"This rivalry game lived up to its billing," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "We got them up there, but they returned the favor here.  It came down to a couple of possessions.  I was proud of our guys, the way they battled back.  Our Achilles heel all year has been rebounding, and it got to us today.  We've got to do a better job, and now we have to get ready for Chatham."

Oliver led the offense with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting, a season-high.  Rusyn finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, while Moose added eight points and nine rebounds.  Bell gave the team a lift off the bench again, shooting 3-of-5 from 3-point range.  Geneva gave up 18 offensive rebounds to Westminster, and turnovers in the second half proved costly as well.  Isaac Stamatiades scored a game-high 23 points to lead Westminster.

Geneva heads back out onto the road on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff with Chatham.  The Golden Tornadoes then close their regular season with two home games next week.


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.