MARIETTA, Ohio – The Geneva College men's basketball team traveled to nationally ranked Marietta on Tuesday night to take on a Pioneer team that was ranked third in NCAA Division III in the latest poll.  The Golden Tornadoes tried to hang with the talented Pioneers, but for the second straight game Geneva saw an opponent catch fire from long range, enabling Marietta to lead from start to finish in a 102-70 Pioneer victory. 
 
Each team came out hot early on from deep.  Both teams hit three three-pointers in the opening minutes, with junior Ryan Rachic (Prince Frederick, Md./Calvert) hitting the first two for the Golden Tornadoes, and then senior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) getting into the action from long range to even the score at 9-9.  A minute later, Rachic answered two Pioneer buckets with another three-pointer to pull Geneva within 13-12 less than four minutes into the game.
 
Marietta then began to use its significant size advantage to pull away from Geneva, as the Golden Tornadoes went cold from the field.  Over the next five minutes the Pioneers went on a 16-2 run to take a 29-14 lead, with most of the damage coming inside.  A driving layup from Rachic finally broke the Marietta run.  A three-pointer from senior Matt Veynovich (Pompono Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy) would cut the Marietta lead to ten points, 31-21, but that was as close as Geneva would get.  The Pioneers answered with an 11-2 run to take their biggest lead of the half, 42-23, and Marietta took a 47-32 lead into the halftime break.  Rachic had 13 points to lead the Golden Tornadoes.
 
Junior Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) opened the second half with a three-pointer to pull Geneva within 47-35, but Marietta answered with a huge run to put the game away.  The Pioneers got hot again from the perimeter, led by Marietta guard Jason Ellis, and over the next four minutes the Pioneers outscored Geneva 18-4, with the Marietta lead ballooning to 65-39 just five minutes into the second half.  Rachic, Tipton and Veynovich supplied most of the offense the rest of the game for the Golden Tornadoes, but the deep and talented Pioneers stayed red hot from the perimeter in the second half, hitting 11-of-14 three-pointers, and Marietta finished off the 102-70 victory.
 
Tipton, who had just four points at the half, finished the game with 22 points.  Rachic was right behind, finishing with a career-high 21 points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing his fourth straight double-double.  Luptak contributed 12 points.  Geneva shot 23-of-55 (41.8%) from the floor, including 11-of-31 (35.5%) from three-point range.
 
Ellis led the Pioneers with 27 points, including six three-pointers, while Cooper Parrott added 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three-point range.  Marietta finished the game shooting 37-of-72 (51.8%) from the floor, including an even better 15-of-27 (55.6%) from long range.  Marietta committed just five turnovers, compared to Geneva's 20 turnovers.

"Marietta looked every bit like a top-5 team," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "That was one of the best three-point shooting teams we have ever faced.  They just couldn't miss, especially in the second half.  We ran into a bit of a buzzsaw tonight with the way they shot it, but I was proud of our effort and the way we fought all game.  Ryan kept us in the game in the first half, and then Lyle got going in the second, but Marietta played like one of the top teams in the nation.  We're going to enjoy a few days off now, and then we are looking forward to conference play starting next week."
 
Geneva will get a few days off for Thanksgiving, and then the Golden Tornadoes will return this weekend to get prepared to open Presidents' Athletic Conference action next Wednesday with a road trip to Thiel.


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 has one of the top 100 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. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and IACE (International Association for Christian Education).