BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It had been a tough two weeks for the Geneva College men's basketball team as it opened the second semester with four straight losses.  However, the Golden Tornadoes picked up a huge win on Saturday that they really needed by making key plays late to knock of the highly-regarded Saint Vincent Bearcats, 87-82.  Geneva improved to 6-10 overall, 2-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Saint Vincent fell to 9-7 overall, 4-3 in the PAC.

Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero shook things up on Saturday, inserting sophomore Matt Veynovich (Pompono Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy) and freshman Isaac Massie (Cross Lanes, W.Va./Homeschool) into the starting lineup, as well as employing full court pressure against the Bearcats, something Geneva hadn't shown all year.  The moves paid immediate dividends. 

Saint Vincent opened the game with a bucket, but it was all Geneva early on.  The Golden Tornadoes caught Saint Vincent off guard with their defensive pressure, and Geneva blitzed the Bearcats with an early run.  Over the next four minutes, the Golden Tornadoes put together a 20-2 stretch, at one point scoring 13 straight points, on their way to a 20-4 lead less than five minutes into the game.  Senior Ethan Moose (New Castle, Pa./Neshannock) scored eight of those points, Veynovich hit two three-pointers, and senior Nick Rusyn (Salem, Ohio/Salem) added six points, including an emphatic dunk to finish off the opening run.

The Bearcats settled down from there, but they were unable to make much headway for most of the half to cut into Geneva's lead.  Veynovich hit another three-pointer later in the half, and after freshman Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) hit a jumper with five minutes remaining, Geneva took its biggest lead of the game, 39-21.  However, Saint Vincent managed to finish the half on a 15-6 run, and a Bearcat bucket with 20 seconds remaining brought the deficit under ten points for the first time since early in the game, with Geneva taking a 45-36 lead into the break.  Rusyn led the offense with 14 points, while Moose added 10 points.

Veynovich and senior Noah Damazo (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) hit three-pointers early in the second half to push Geneva's lead back to 55-40 three minutes in.  However, Saint Vincent slowly began to chip away at the lead.  Moose hit a jumper with 13 minutes remaining to give Geneva a 63-52 lead, but the Bearcats responded with five quick points to cut the deficit to six points, 63-57.  Damazo and junior Joel Stutz (Evans City, Pa./Butler County Community College) hit three-pointers over the next two minutes, but Saint Vincent refused to go way.  Another three-pointer by Stutz with 7:37 remaining gave Geneva its last double-digit lead of the game, 74-64.

Over the next five minutes, Saint Vincent put together a 13-2 run to take a 77-76 lead with 2:40 remaining, its first lead since the opening minute of the game.  However, despite the Bearcats having the momentum at that point, the Golden Tornadoes made the plays it needed down the stretch.  Damazo answered with a three-pointer to give Geneva the lead back, and then Massie stepped up and carried Geneva late.  The freshman hit two big buckets on back-to-back possessions, answering Saint Vincent baskets.  After the Bearcats cut the deficit to 83-82 with 00:53 remaining, Massie made all four of his free throws in the final minute, and Geneva got two defensive stops late to hold on for the 87-82 victory.

"I'm really proud of our guys tonight and how hard they battled," said Coach Santarsiero.  "We've certainly been struggling recently, and so we changed our style of play a little bit and switched up our lineup some, and our team really responded.  We were really good early, and though we weren't quite as sharp in the second half, we made the plays we needed late to pull out the win against a very talented opponent.  Isaac Massie, in particular, was huge down the stretch, especially for a freshman.  We'll enjoy this for a day, but we've got to turn around and get ready for Thiel on Wednesday."

All five starters scored in double figures for Geneva.  Rusyn led the way with 18 points, a career high.  Moose finished with 14 points, Damazo 13 points, Veynovich 12 points (on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range), while Massie added 10 points, also a career high.  Tipton contributed eight points off the bench as nine different Golden Tornadoes scored in the game.  The three-point line was huge for Geneva in the victory, with the Golden Tornadoes finishing 9-of-16 from long range.  Geneva ended the game shooting 58% from the floor, its best offensive effort of the season.  Saint Vincent was led by its two interior players, Drew Normandin and Shemar Bennett, who finished with 24 and 23 points, respectively.

Up next for Geneva is a home game against Thiel on Wednesday at 7:30 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 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.