BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College men's basketball team jumped out to a big early lead over Bethany on Tuesday night in Metheny Fieldhouse, and the Golden Tornadoes coasted the rest of the way to an 80-64 win.  The victory evened Geneva's overall record at 6-6, 4-2 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Bethany dropped to 1-9 overall, 1-4 in the PAC.

The game stayed close in the opening minutes before Geneva took over.  With the game tied at 9-9, junior Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) converted a three-point play, and the Golden Tornadoes led the rest of the way.  Geneva took its first double-digit lead, 23-12, on a three-pointer from senior Matt Veynovich (Pompano Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy) with 12:24 left in the half.

Bethany would briefly get the lead back under ten points, but senior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley), junior Ryan Rachic (Prince Frederick, Md./Calvert) and Tipton hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers, and Tipton followed with another bucket in transition to make it 11 straight points, giving Geneva a 36-16 lead with 7:09 remaining.

The Bison would answer with eight straight points, though, closing within 36-24.  That's as close as Bethany would get, as Geneva maintained a 44-30 lead going into the break.  Tipton had 13 points to lead the Golden Tornadoes.

Geneva struggled with its outside shot in the second half, but strong work by Tipton in the paint, often on drives to the hoop, kept Bethany at arm's length.  For the first ten minutes of the half the Geneva lead stayed between 10-15 points, with the Golden Tornadoes unable to pull away, but the Bison unable to cut the deficit under double digits.

A seven-point burst by Geneva with nine minutes remaining on baskets from Rachic and Tipton, followed by a three-pointer from Veynovich, gave the Golden Tornadoes a 68-51 lead with 7:33 remaining.  Bethany never got closer than 13 points the rest of the game, and Geneva easily finished out the 80-64 victory.

Tipton was huge again on the night, finishing with 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point range.  He also added 12 rebounds.  Rachic also finished with a double-double, contributing 13 points and 11 rebounds.  Veynovich chipped in with 12 points and Luptak added 11 points.  Geneva shot 44.8% from the floor, but only 9-of-32 (28.1%) from long range.  Travis Zimmerman led the Bison with 16 points.

"This was a good bounce-back win for us after we let one get away from us on Saturday," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "I thought the guys worked hard in some areas we need to improve in, but we still have work to do.  Three-game weeks are tough with the quick turnarounds.  Lyle was obviously terrific again after a bit of an off night against Waynesburg, and Ryan gave us some really good play tonight as well.  Matt, Isaac and Amos also gave us some good minutes."

Geneva heads to Saint Vincent on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff before returning home on Saturday for a 5:00 p.m. start with 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).