BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It had been nine games, spanning over four years, since the Geneva College men's basketball team tasted victory over Grove City.  That streak is no more.  The Golden Tornadoes put together one of their best performances of the young season, and it took everything they had to prevail in one of the most exciting games in Metheny Fieldhouse in recent memory, outlasting Grove City for a 92-87 victory.  The win was Geneva's third straight, moving its record to 3-1 overall, 3-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Grove City dropped to 0-1, 0-1 in the PAC.

The story lines coming into the game were quite interesting, in light of this pandemic-shortened season.  The last time these two teams met was in the PAC Championship game last year.  Grove City was playing its first game of the season after having to postpone its first couple games due to a COVID case.  Geneva had won two in a row, and after W&J upset Westminster earlier in the day, a win would move the Golden Tornadoes into a first place tie in the PAC with Westminster, where they had never been four games into a season since joining the PAC in 2011.  The game lived up to the billing, and then some.

Junior Matt Veynovich (Pompono Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy) got Geneva on the board on the opening possession with a jumper, and the first half proved to be back-and-forth affair.  Grove City answered right back, with a three-pointer from Isaac Thrasher giving the Wolverines their first lead, 7-4. 

Geneva's offense went cold, scoring just five points over an almost eight-minute stretch midway through the half, and a Thrasher jumper with 4:46 left in the half gave Grove City its biggest lead of the game, 25-19.  The Wolverines did a lot of their damage from the free throw line, converting 15-of-18 tries in the half.

Senior Joel Stutz (Evans City, Pa./Butler Community College) got the Golden Tornado offense back on track, though, hitting a three-pointer on Geneva's next possession and then converting two free throws on the ensuing possession, pulling the Golden Tornadoes back to within one point, 25-24.  A minute later, junior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) converted a three-point play, regaining the lead for Geneva, 30-29.  A three-pointer from Veynovich and two baskets by sophomore Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) in the final minutes helped Geneva take a 37-35 lead going into halftime.

Tipton opened the second half with a layup, and Stutz followed with another three-pointer to extend Geneva's lead to 42-35, the biggest it would get in the game.  The Wolverines never let Geneva get away from them, though.  Grove City responded with a 10-2 run to retake the lead, 45-44.

Sophomore Isaac Massie (Cross Lanes, W.Va./Homeschool) answered with a jumper, and Luptak followed with a three-pointer to give Geneva the lead back, 49-45.  Though the Golden Tornadoes would lead most of the second half, the Geneva lead mostly hovered between only two to four points.  Grove City would regain a lead briefly with about seven minutes remaining, but Tipton converted a three-point play with 6:21 remaining to give Geneva a 75-74 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes would not trail again, though Grove City would manage to tie the game at 78-78 with 4:34 remaining.

Tipton once again answered, this time with layup on Geneva's following possession, and Luptak added a short jumper in the paint to extend Geneva's lead to 82-78 with 2:48 left.  Neither team was able to stop the other team defensively for most of the second half, but the Golden Tornado defense finally picked up a couple defensive stops late, enabling Geneva to hold on for the 92-87 victory.

"That was just a great team win," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero, who achieved his 400^th career victory between his Geneva and Nyack days.  "I'm so proud of this group.  There's just no quit in them.  Our guys kept battling all night.  Lyle was really good, especially in the second half.  Amos was tremendous as well.  Joel and Matt give us such a dangerous presence from deep, and Jake Ford once again gave us some huge minutes.  I'm especially really happy for Jake, who has battled injury after injury in his career.  Grove City is such a well-coached and tough team, and Coach Lamie's teams are always hard to beat.  So this is certainly one to remember, and we should enjoy this one tonight, but then its back to the grind on Monday as we get ready for Bethany."

Tipton led the way offensively, finishing with 26 points and eight rebounds, on the heels of a 28-point effort on Wednesday at W&J.  Luptak had one of his best game as a Golden Tornado, finishing with a season-high 19 points, with Grove City unable to keep him out of the lane the whole second half.  Stutz added 15 points, including three three-pointers, while Veynovich added 14 points, including 4-of-9 from deep.

Both teams shot it well.  Geneva finished at 48% while Grove City finished at 50% from the floor.  The Wolverines also won the battle on the boards, 41-32, but the Golden Tornadoes turned it over just eight times, compared to 16 turnovers for Grove City.  Grove City's Luca Robinson led the Wolverines with 14 points.

Geneva heads back out onto the road for its next two games, next Wednesday at Bethany for a 6:00 p.m. tipoff, followed by a 1:00 p.m. matchup at Chatham next Saturday.  The Golden Tornadoes won't return home until Wednesday, February 24, when they host Westminster at 7:00 p.m. in the rescheduled game for the season opener that was postponed due to a COVID issue.


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.