BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Something had to give on Saturday afternoon when the Geneva College men's basketball team hosted first-place Grove City.  The Golden Tornadoes came into the game riding a five-game winning streak, while the Wolverines boasted a nine-game winning streak.  The game proved to a tight affair that came down to the final seconds, but Grove City made the plays late to pull out a 76-71 victory.  Grove City improved to 14-7, 11-2 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Geneva fell to 10-11, 6-6 in the PAC.

The game started out well for the Golden Tornadoes.  After Grove City opened the game with a bucket, Geneva scored seven straight points and three minutes into the game held an 11-4 lead, with senior Nick Rusyn (Salem, Ohio/Salem) scoring six points early on.  The Wolverines closed to within 16-14 a few minutes later, but Geneva answered with a 10-2 run, capped off by a three-pointer from sophomore Matt Veynovich (Pompono Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy) with 6:56 remaining in the half.  That gave Geneva a 26-16 lead, its biggest of the game.

However, Geneva's offense went cold over the final seven minutes of the half, and Grove City took advantage by closing the half on a 14-5 run, cutting the Golden Tornadoes' lead down to 31-30 heading into the break.

A jumper by Grove City twenty seconds into the second half gave the Wolverines their first lead since the opening minute of the game, setting the stage for a back-and-forth second half.  Geneva responded with a burst five minutes into the second half to take a 45-39 lead, but Grove City would not go away. 

Junior RJ Bell (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon McMillan) came off the bench in the second half and provided the Golden Tornadoes with a huge lift.  The sharp-shooter knocked down five three-pointers over a five-minute stretch, answering the Wolverines every time they cut the deficit down.  His last three-pointer came with 7:11 remaining and gave Geneva a 62-57 lead.

However, Grove City responded to Bell's last three-pointer with six straight points, giving the Wolverines a 63-62 lead with 4:53 remaining.  The lead changed hands four times over the next three minutes before a Grove City basket with just over two minutes remaining gave the Wolverines a lead they would not relinquish.  Geneva's last chance came in the closing seconds when Veynovich's potential game-tying three-pointer bounced off the rim with three seconds remaining, and Grove City made two free throws at the end to close out the victory, 76-71.

Bell and Rusyn each scored 15 points to lead Geneva, with Rusyn also grabbing 14 rebounds for a double-double.  Senior Ethan Moose (New Castle, Pa./Neshannock) added 14 points, while Veynovich contributed 11 points.  The Golden Tornadoes were outshot from the floor, 40% to 51%, and outrebounded, 43-35, by Grove City, but eight combined three-pointers by Bell and Veynovich kept Geneva close the whole game.  Grove City guard Nate Peters scored a game-high 26 points to lead the Wolverines.

"It's obviously a very disappointing result, but I'm really proud of our effort against the top team in the conference," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "When you are playing a team as good as Grove City, there's not a lot of room for mistakes, and we ultimately didn't play well enough down the stretch to win.  We had four empty possession late that really cost us.  Nick continues to play at a really high level, and RJ shot it so well tonight.  Now we've got to shake this one off and get ready for Westminster on Wednesday."

Geneva heads next to Westminster on Wednesday for an 8:00 p.m. tipoff with the Titans.


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.