BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College men's basketball team put itself in position to pick up an important Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) victory over Waynesburg on Saturday afternoon, but the Golden Tornadoes couldn't hold a halftime lead and fell 78-73 to the Yellow Jackets.  Waynesburg improved to 8-4 overall, 4-1 in the PAC, while Geneva fell to 5-6 overall, 3-2 in the PAC.

Waynesburg used an early ten-point run in the first half to take a 14-6 lead just a few minutes into the game.  Senior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) answered with five straight points, and a moment later junior Isaac Massie (Cross Lanes, W.Va./Homeschool) knocked down a three-pointer while being fouled, and he converted the free throw to give Geneva a 17-16 lead.

Waynesburg would respond with a run to regain a 23-19 lead, but freshman Trevor Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) began to put on a shooting display, knocking down back-to-back three-pointers.  His buckets ignited a Golden Tornado run, which was capped off by Tipton hitting another back-to-back three-pointers, giving Geneva its biggest lead of the game, 37-27, with three minutes to go to the break.  Waynesburg cut the deficit to five points before Massie drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Golden Tornadoes into the half with a 40-32 advantage.

However, Waynesburg's leading scorer, Matt Popeck, came out of the locker room on fire, knocking down four three-pointers in the opening two minutes to regain the lead for the Yellow Jackets, 44-40, and it was a battle the rest of the way.  Junior Ryan Rachic (Prince Frederick, Md./Calvert) answered with a bucket and three-pointer to give Geneva a 45-44 lead, but the Golden Tornadoes could never get their offense on track, aside from Tipton who knocked down three more three-pointers in the second half to keep Geneva within striking distance.

The game went back-and-forth over the final ten minutes of the second half, with Waynesburg leading most of the way, but by never more than five points.  Geneva took its last lead of the game, 73-72, on two free throws from Rachic with 1:55 remaining, but those were the last points the Golden Tornadoes would score.  Popeck immediately responded with a jumper, and Geneva never led again.  Popeck fittingly scored the final six points of the game to send the Yellow Jackets off with a 78-73 victory.  Outside of Tipton, Geneva made just 1-of-13 three-pointers in the final half.

Tipton led the Geneva offense with a career-high 21 points of 7-of-9 shooting from three-point range.  Unfortunately, the rest of the team combined to go just 5-of-25 from long range.  Rachic wasn't far behind, finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds.  Junior Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian), the PAC's leading scorer at almost 27 points per game, had an uncharacteristically off night, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting from the floor, while also grabbing 10 rebounds.  Luptak added 10 points as Geneva, after shooting 51.7% in the first half, shot just 36.3% in the second half for a final 43.5% effort.

Waynesburg was led by Popeck, who finished with 31 points, 26 coming in the second half.  The Yellow Jackets hit 43.1% from the floor, including a 10-of-23 (43.5%) effort from the three-point line.  Waynesburg also turned the ball over just five times, compared to 15 turnovers for Geneva.

"Other than Trevor, I don't think we could have shot it much worse than we did tonight," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "Give Waynesburg credit.  They are putting together a good season and outplayed us down the stretch.  We let Popeck catch fire early in the second half by giving up some open looks, and he never slowed down the rest of the half.  We couldn't knock down our open looks, and we couldn't get stops at critical times when we needed to late.  So we'll regroup and get ready for next week."

Geneva is scheduled to host Bethany on Monday, but with the potential for a significant snowstorm on Sunday night into Monday, there is a possibility that game will be moved to Tuesday evening.  Fans will be allowed back into the gym for that game.

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).