BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – For the first 39:59 of the Geneva College men's basketball game with W&J on Wednesday night, the game proved to be a defensive slugfest for both teams, with neither team likely to remember it for its free-flowing aesthetics.  However, the final second had all the beauty of a Monet painting for Geneva after freshman Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) drained a 12-foot jumper with 0.2 seconds remaining to give the Golden Tornadoes a dramatic 63-62 victory over the Presidents.  The victory was Geneva's fourth straight and improved its record to 9-10 overall, 5-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while W&J fell to 10-9, 5-5 in the PAC.

Senior Noah Damazo (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) came out hot early, scoring Geneva's first six points.  After W&J took a 7-6 lead, the Golden Tornadoes put together their best offensive stretch of the game, going on a 10-2 run with sophomore Matt Veynovich (Pompono Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy) draining two three-pointers to give Geneva a 16-9 lead just five minutes into action.

However, the Golden Tornadoes went cold over the next five minutes, turning it over four times, and the Presidents were able to regain the lead, 20-19 with nine minutes remaining in the half.  A three-point play by junior Joel Stutz (Evans City, Pa./Butler County Community College) gave Geneva the lead back, 23-20.  Neither team could gain much advantage over the final six minutes of the half, though, but W&J did just enough to take a 36-33 lead heading into the break.

The Presidents came out cold in the second half, but Geneva was unable to take much advantage of W&J's struggles.  Freshman Isaac Massie (Cross Lanes, W.Va./Homeschool) hit a jumper and a three-pointer in the opening five minutes, but despite W&J not scoring for over six minutes to open the half, Geneva managed just a 38-36 lead.  The game would stay tight the rest of the game with neither team finding much offensive rhythm.

Maybe the only player for either team in the second half who did get into a flow was Tipton.  The freshman, who had just two points in the first half, scored three straight baskets for Geneva midway through the final period to give Geneva a 47-43 lead.  After a Presidents basket, Tipton scored back-to-back baskets, making it ten straight Geneva points by Tipton, giving the Golden Tornadoes a 51-45 lead with nine minutes remaining.  Damazo followed with a three-pointer and a jumper to push Geneva's lead back to 56-49 with 7:31 remaining.

However, once again the Geneva offense bogged down, allowing W&J to get back into the game.  The Presidents slowly cut the lead back down, and a W&J three-pointer with 3:07 remaining gave the Presidents the lead back, 60-59.  Senior Ethan Moose (New Castle, Pa./Neshannock) answered with a layup, but W&J came right back with a bucket to give the Presidents a 62-61 lead with 2:19 left.  Both teams each had three empty possessions over the next two minutes, and after senior Nick Rusyn (Salem, Ohio) corralled a rebound with 7.6 seconds left, Geneva called timeout to set the stage for one final play.

Massie took the Geneva inbounds pass and went the length of the court, kicking it to Tipton out on the wing.  Tipton took three dribbles and pulled up from the elbow, elevating from 12 feet and swishing a jumper with 0.2 seconds remaining, winning the game for Geneva, 63-62.  A failed inbounds pass by W&J ended the game, setting off a celebration at midcourt around Tipton.

In addition to the game-winner, Tipton finished with a game-high 17 points to go along with nine rebounds.  Damazo contributed a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.  Moose chipped in with nine points, while Rusyn came up big defensively with six blocks.  The Golden Tornadoes committed 21 turnovers, but they held W&J to 37% shooting and made the stops they needed to down the stretch to give them a chance to win at the end.

"What a great win by the guys tonight," said an elated Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "I've been doing this for a long time, and we've had a few buzzer beaters go against us in the recent past, so it was great to be on this end of it.  Isaac pushed the ball up court quickly, and Lyle's shot looked good the second it left his hand.  He carried us for much of the second half, so it was fitting for him to hit the last shot.  We've got a little bit of a break coming up, so we're going to enjoy this and have a couple days off before we get ready for Waynesburg in a week."

Geneva is off this Saturday before returning to action next Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff at Waynesburg.


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 145 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. Geneva is included on Kiplinger's Personal Finance's "2019 Best College Values" list and has one of the top undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report. 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.