WASHINGTON, Pa. – The last time the Geneva College men's team traveled to W&J was in the opening round of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) playoffs last season, when the Golden Tornadoes upset the higher-seeded Presidents.  Despite a slow start on Wednesday, Geneva did it again, led by a big night from sophomore Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian), as the Golden Tornadoes came from behind to defeat the Presidents, 73-66.  Geneva improved to 2-1 overall, 2-1 in the PAC, while W&J fell to 1-1, 1-1 in the PAC.

The game didn't start well for the Golden Tornadoes.  Geneva scored just once, on a layup from senior Joel Stutz (Evans City, Pa./Butler Community College), in the opening three and a half minutes as W&J took an early 8-2 lead.  The Presidents would continue to extend their lead, with Geneva scoring just 15 points in the opening 15 minutes, and with five minutes remaining in the half, the Golden Tornadoes trailed 30-17, their biggest deficit of the night.

Tipton began to take the Geneva offense over at that point, though, scoring eight straight points in a two-minute span, and after a three-pointer from Stutz, the Golden Tornadoes pulled to within 32-28 with 2:10 remaining.  W&J quickly pushed the lead back to double digits, 38-28, before a jumper by Stutz at the halftime buzzer pulled Geneva to within 38-30.

The Golden Tornadoes jumped on W&J early in the second half.  Senior AJ Stroop (Hillsboro, Ohio/Lynchburg-Clay) made back-to-back baskets in the opening minute, and Tipton followed with a three-pointer to pull Geneva to within 38-37 less than two minutes into the half.  Two minutes later, back-to-back three-pointers from Stutz and junior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) gave the Golden Tornadoes their first lead of the game, 45-42.

W&J pulled even two minutes later at 46-46, but Geneva scored nine straight on a jumper from Tipton, another three-pointer from Stutz, a fast-break layup from Luptak and layup from Stroop, giving Geneva a 55-46 lead with 11:44 left.  The Golden Tornadoes were unable to extend the lead any further, though, and W&J began to slowly chip away at the lead.  Over the next seven minutes, the Presidents methodically reduced the deficit, eventually closing to within 65-64 with 4:16 left.

As he had done all night, though, it was Tipton who came up with the big shot late.  After the Presidents closed to within one again, 67-66, with just over a minute remaining, Tipton hit a jumper in the paint while getting fouled, and he converted the three-point play to give Geneva a two-possession lead, 70-66.  The Presidents wouldn't score again.  Tipton made 3-of-4 free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory, 73-66.

"This was such a great road win," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "We didn't play well early, but there was no quit in the team.  We started to settle in offensively late in the first half, and Lyle was really the catalyst for that.  He was huge for us tonight, along with Joel.  We got contributions from a number of players, but those two guys really carried us.  This is definitely a win to enjoy, but things don't get any easier on Saturday when we host Grove City, so we have to continue to get better.  There are no easy nights in this conference."

Tipton finished with 28 points, going 10-of-16 from the floor, 2-of-3 from three-point range, while also finishing 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.  He also grabbed nine rebounds.  Stutz also shot it well, shooting 7-of-11 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from three-point range, to finish with 17 points.  Luptak and junior Matt Veynovich (Pompono Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy) each added nine points.  As a team, Geneva shot 50% from the floor, including 7-of-14 from three-point range.  The long-range shooting was a big difference in the game, as W&J finished 46% from the floor, but only 5-of-25 (20%) from deep.

Geneva returns home to face Grove City on Saturday, with a tipoff at 7:00 p.m.


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.