LATROBE, Pa. – Playing without senior leading-scorers Ethan Moose (New Castle, Pa./Neshannock) and Noah Damazo (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) for a second straight game, freshman Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) stole the show for the Geneva College men's basketball team at Saint Vincent on Wednesday night.  Tipton finished with a career-high 33 points as the Golden Tornadoes overcame a big early deficit to defeat the Bearcats, 85-73.  Geneva improved to 11-13, 7-8 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Saint Vincent fell to 12-12, 7-8 in the PAC.

It was Saint Vincent who looked like the better team early on.  The Bearcats stormed out to an 18-5 lead six minutes into the game, with the Golden Tornadoes doing little right, and it looked like it might be a long night for the Geneva squad.  However, things turned around quickly, in large part due to the play of Tipton.

A layup by senior Nick Rusyn (Salem, Ohio/Salem) kick-started a Geneva run, and Tipton followed Rusyn's basket with ten straight points, helping the Golden Tornadoes tie the game at 19-19.  A minute later, a three-pointer by Tipton followed by two free throws from the freshman gave Geneva its first lead of the game, 24-21.  Saint Vincent briefly regained the lead a couple minutes later, 32-28, but back-to-back three-pointers by sophomore Matt Veynovich (Pompono Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy) and freshman Isaac Massie (Cross Lanes, W.Va./Homeschool) sent Geneva to the halftime break holding a 36-32 lead.  Tipton had 17 points in the half.

Geneva began to take control of the game early in the second half.  With the Golden Tornadoes leading 41-37 three minutes into the second half, the Golden Tornadoes went on another huge run.  It was Tipton again who started the run with four points sandwiched around a layup from Veynovich.  After that it was sophomore Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) who scored eight straight points for Geneva off drives to the basket, and he followed that with a drive-and-dish to Rusyn for a layup to finish off a 16-1 run, giving the Golden Tornadoes a 57-38 lead with just under 12 minutes left.

The Bearcats wouldn't go away, though.  Despite scoring just six points in the opening nine minute of the half, Saint Vincent got its offense working, and combined with some turnovers by Geneva, the Bearcats began to rally.  Over the next six minutes Saint Vincent cut into the Geneva lead, and after a Bearcat layup, Saint Vincent pulled to within 63-57 with just under five minutes left.  However, that was as close as the Bearcats would get.

Tipton scored again on Geneva's next possession, and the Golden Tornadoes began to get opportunities from the foul line down the stretch, which Geneva converted.  In fact, the Golden Tornadoes made 16-of-18 free throws over the final four minutes of the game, and their accuracy from the stripe never gave Saint Vincent a chance in the closing minutes.  Geneva finished off the victory, 85-73.

Tipton shot 12-of-19 from the floor, including 1-of-3 from three-point range, and 8-of-10 from the line for his career-high 33 points.  Luptak also reached a career-high with 14 points, including 6-of-6 from the foul line down the stretch.   Rusyn finished with a double-double, 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Veynovich and junior Joel Stutz (Evans City, Pa./Butler County Community) each added 10 points.  The Golden Tornadoes finished with a 52% shooting effort from the floor, as well as going 23-of-26 (89%) from the foul line.  Saint Vincent finished at 44% from the floor while making just 10-of-20 (50%) free throws.

"That was a really gutsy win for our guys," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "To fall down early like we did, without Ethan and Noah, and to come all the way back is really impressive.  Lyle was tremendous all night, and they didn't have anyone that could stop him.  Amos was huge as well for us and really played a critical part in that second-half run.  That's the best he's played all season.  Nick was also big again down low for us, and our defense was key for us tonight.  I'm just so proud of our guys, doing this without a couple of best players in the conference.  We're going to enjoy this for a night and then quickly turn our attention to Thiel to close out the regular season on Saturday.  With the playoffs just around the corner, we're going to need efforts like this every night from here on out."

Geneva closes its regular season on Saturday with a road game at Thiel beginning at 3:00 p.m.  Geneva currently sits tied for fifth place in the PAC with Saint Vincent.  Because of Geneva's sweep of the Bearcats this season, the first time in 10 years the Golden Tornadoes have swept Saint Vincent, Geneva holds the tiebreaker in seeding.


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.