GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Geneva College men's basketball team played one of its best halves of basketball in recent memory in the first half of their Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) opener at Thiel on Wednesday night, and led by junior Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian), Geneva defeated the Tomcats 87-77 in a game that was much more lopsided than the final score indicates.  The Golden Tornadoes improved to 3-2 overall, 1-0 in the PAC, while Thiel dropped to 1-7, 0-2 in the PAC.

Thiel took a brief 7-6 lead in the opening minutes of the first half, but back-to-back three-pointers by junior Ryan Rachic (Prince Frederick, Md./Calvert) gave Geneva the lead back.  Thiel briefly tied the score back up at 12-12 four minutes in, but it was all Golden Tornadoes from there.

Tipton began the onslaught with a free throw and a three-pointer.  Senior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) added a layup before Tipton added another bucket.  Freshman Trevor Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) followed with a three-pointer, and the older Tipton knocked down another basket to make it 13 straight points for Geneva.

A three-pointer by Thiel did little to stop the Geneva momentum.  Senior Matt Veynovich (Pompano Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy) answered with back-to-back three-pointers, and Lyle Tipton converted a traditional three-point play to increase the Golden Tornado lead to 34-17 with nine minutes remaining in the half.

Then, with Geneva leading 41-24 with four minutes remaining before the break, the Golden Tornadoes finished the half on a 15-2 run to take a commanding 56-26 lead into the locker room.  Geneva shot 67% from the floor, including a 7-of-10 effort from long range, with Lyle Tipton finishing with 22 points to lead the offense.

The only question in the second half was what the final margin was going to be.  Geneva controlled most of the second half and still led 82-51 with six minutes remaining and 84-57 with less than four minutes left before Thiel closed with a 20-3 run to make the final score look much closer than the game actually played out. 

Lyle Tipton finished the game with 35 points, nine rebounds, five assists, five blocks and two steals.  He shot 13-of-17 from the floor, 2-of-3 from three-point range and 7-of-9 from the foul line.  Veynovich added 16 points, including four three-pointers, while Luptak and Rachic each contributed 13 points. 

As a team Geneva shot 59% (32-of-55) from the floor and 56% (10-of-18) from three-point range.  Thiel, after Geneva held the Tomcats to 27% shooting from the floor in the first half, finished the game at 42%, with much of their success coming in the final minutes.

"Our execution on both ends, but especially on the offensive end, in that first half was about as good as it gets," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "That was one of the best halves we've played in a while, and our whole team was so efficient.  Lyle was Lyle.  Matt shot it really well tonight, which was encouraging to see, and Amos and Ryan had good games too.  It's good to start the conference with a road win, but we have a very hot Chatham squad coming in on Saturday that will make for a very tough game."

Geneva does have its PAC home opener this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against the Cougars.  Chatham comes in with a perfect 6-0 record after defeating Saint Vincent 100-64 on Wednesday night.

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).