PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) men's basketball matchup on Wednesday night between Geneva and Chatham represented a challenge for the Golden Tornadoes.  The Cougars came into the contest preferring to do most of its damage offensively from three-point range, and Geneva spends most of its time defensively operating out of a zone.  Unfortunately on this night, it proved to be a tough matchup for the Golden Tornadoes as Chatham made 13 three-pointers on its way to a 79-69 victory.  Chatham improved to 10-6 overall, 5-2 in the PAC, while Geneva lost its fourth straight game to fall to 5-10, 1-5 in the PAC.
 
Senior Ethan Moose (New Castle, Pa./Neshannock) opened the scoring with a bucket on Geneva's opening possession.  However, in what would prove to be a sign of things to come, Chatham answered with back-to-back three-pointers to take a 6-2 lead, and the Golden Tornadoes never led again.  Nine of Chatham's first ten made field goals were from long range, and every time Geneva tried to close the gap, the Cougars knocked down a three-pointer, with Chatham steadily building its lead throughout the first half.  The Cougars closed the half with seven straight points to take a 40-26 lead into halftime.  Chatham made 10-of-19 attempts in the half.  Moose and sophomore Matt Veynovich (Pompono Beach, Fla/Highlands Academy) each had nine points to lead Geneva.
 
Chatham opened the second half right where it left off, draining another three-pointer, as the Cougars opened the half with nine straight points to blow the game open, 49-26.  Veynovich finally got Geneva on the board with a three-pointer, his fourth of the game to that point, and that gave the Golden Tornadoes a brief spark.  Geneva scored ten straight points, but true to form, Chatham answered with another three-pointer.  The Golden Tornadoes refused to give up, pulling to within nine points, 70-61, on a jumper by senior Noah Damazo (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) with 1:48 remaining, but the hole proved too big to dig out of.  The Cougars held on over the final two minutes for a 79-69 victory.

Veynovich finished with a career-high 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting from three-point range, while junior Joel Stutz (Evans City, Pa./Butler County Community College) wasn't far behind with 17 points.  Moose and freshman Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) each added 11 points.  Geneva outshot Chatham 45% to 40% from the floor, but the Cougars made 13-of-28 from three-point range while outrebounding Geneva 41-35.  Chatham also made 18-of-29 from the free throw line compared to 11-of-19 for the Golden Tornadoes.  Malik Potter led Chatham with a game-high 20 points, including four three-pointers.

"This was another really disappointing performance tonight after a string of poor games since returning for second semester," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "It's really frustrating to keep playing poorly early on in games and putting ourselves in a big hole.  There are a lot of teams in this conference playing much better than us right now, and we're quickly losing ground.  If we want to position ourselves to make the playoffs and put together any sort of run, we've got to turn this thing around quickly.  I thought Matt and Joel played well tonight, but overall we're just not playing good basketball right now."

The road doesn't get any easier for the Golden Tornadoes as they return home to take on preseason PAC-favorite Saint Vincent on Saturday at 3:00 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 115 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 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.