BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Suffice it to say, this was not the start to the second semester that the Geneva College men's basketball team was looking for as it returned from Christmas break.  Facing a winless Waynesburg squad, the Golden Tornadoes took a big halftime lead, but Geneva had no answers for the Yellow Jackets in the second half as Waynesburg stormed back to stun the Golden Tornadoes, 76-72.  Waynesburg picked up its first win of the season to move its record to 1-12 overall, 1-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Geneva fell to 5-7, 1-2 in the PAC.

A three-pointer from junior Joel Stutz (Evans City, Pa./Butler Community College) helped Geneva to an early 5-2 lead, but Waynesburg answered with 10 straight points to take a 12-5 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes continued to struggle through the first eight minutes, with the Yellow Jackets taking their biggest lead of the game, 24-13, with 11:33 remaining in the half.  However, Geneva slowly began to chip away at the deficit, and with Waynesburg leading 31-25 with 6:11 remaining until halftime, the Golden Tornadoes put together maybe its best six minutes of the season.  Geneva scored 19 straight points, with Stutz making two three-pointers and freshman Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) adding seven points off the bench in the run, and the Golden Tornadoes looked to be in great shape in taking a 47-33 lead into the break.

Unfortunately, not much went right for the Golden Tornadoes in the second half.  With Geneva leading 51-37 after another three-pointer by Stutz, Waynesburg took over.  Waynesburg center Isaiah Alonzo found continued success against the Geneva zone defense operating out of the high post, either with short jumpers or finding back-door cutters for layups on the back of Geneva's defense, and the Golden Tornadoes could never regain control of the game.  The Yellow Jackets scored 10 straight points over the next four minutes to cut Geneva's lead to 51-47, and four minutes later Waynesburg put together eight straight points to regain the lead, 62-58 with 9:15 remaining, and Geneva would never lead again.

Senior Ethan Moose (New Castle, Pa./Neshannock) tried to keep the Golden Tornadoes in it, pacing the offense in the second half.  However, every time Geneva closed to within a bucket, Waynesburg had an answer, all the way to the end of the game.  Moose hit a jumper with 00:44 remaining to pull Geneva to within 73-72, but as they had all half, the Yellow Jackets found an answer.  Waynesburg's Ryan Felberg, who was 3-of-3 from long range in the first half, found himself open from deep on the wing, and he nailed a three-pointer with 15 seconds remaining to effectively seal the game, and the Yellow Jackets held on for a 76-72 victory.

"I'm really disappointed by our performance today which led to this loss," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "We gave about ten minutes of good effort today, but otherwise we just weren't very good.  I give credit to Waynesburg who never gave up despite our halftime lead, so congrats to them."

Moose and Stutz each scored 17 points to lead Geneva.  Moose added 12 rebounds, while Stutz finished 5-of-10 from three-point range.  Senior Nick Rusyn (Salem, Ohio/Salem) and sophomore Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) each added nine points.  The Golden Tornadoes struggled defensively, with Waynesburg, who came into the game shooting just 38% on the season, finishing an impressive 54% from the floor, including an 18-of-30 (60%) effort in the second half.  The Yellow Jackets also made 8-of-19 (42%) from long range.  Alonzo led Waynesburg with a game-high 19 points, as well grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists.

Geneva will travel next to Grove City for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff on Wednesday before returning home for a 3:00 p.m. matchup on Saturday against Westminster.


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.