GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Geneva College men's basketball team jumped out to a big lead at Grove City on Monday night, as the Wolverines had no answers for junior Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont), and the Golden Tornadoes controlled things from start to finish in an 88-72 victory.  Geneva, which last won at Grove City in 2015, has now won four straight games and improved its record to 9-6 overall, 7-2 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Grove City dropped to 6-9, 2-6 in the PAC.

Grove City scored the opening bucket of the game, but after that it was all Geneva.  The Golden Tornadoes continued their torrid pace from outside, with Tipton hitting a three-pointer to get Geneva on the board.  Another three-pointer by Tipton a minute later gave the Golden Tornadoes an 8-7 lead, kicking off a big Geneva run.

Junior Ryan Rachic (Prince Frederick, Md./Calvert) hit two early buckets, followed by a layup from Tipton and a three-pointer from senior Matt Veynovich (Pompano Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy).  Tipton then finished off the 15 straight Golden Tornado points with a bucket and another three-pointer, and six minutes into the game Geneva led 20-7.

A Wolverine bucket did little to slow down the Golden Tornadoes.  Sophomore Rob Liggett (Beaver, Pa./Lincoln Park) converted a three-point play, followed by another three-pointer, this one from Rachic, to extend the Geneva lead to 26-9.

The only hiccup of the half occurred over the next two minutes, as Grove City scored nine straight points to pull within eight.  However, another Rachic three-pointer got the Golden Tornadoes rolling again, and senior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) joined the party with a three-pointer as Geneva built its lead to 43-23 on a layup from Tipton before settling for a 47-32 lead at the break.  Tipton had 21 points in the half.

Grove City scored the first five points of the second half to pull within ten, but that was as close as the Wolverines would get.  A seven-point run by Geneva, with Tipton scoring four and Luptak knocking down another three-pointer, rebuilt the lead, and Grove City would never really threaten again.

Geneva's biggest lead of the game came after another three-pointer from Veynovich, 82-60, with 5:37 remaining, and the Golden Tornadoes easily closed out the win, 88-72.

Tipton finished with 37 points, two off his career high, while leading the team with nine rebounds.  Rachic added 19 points, Veynovich 13 points and Luptak 10 points.  The Golden Tornadoes shot 52.4% from the floor, including 12-of-23 (52.2%) from three-point range.  Geneva committed just two turnovers while picking up 17 assists, with junior Isaac Massie (Cross Lanes, W.Va./Homeschool) contributing a team-high six assists.

Grove City shot 40.6% from the floor.  The one thing the Wolverines did well was rebounding, winning the battle of the boards 51-30, including 26 offensive rebounds, but it didn't matter.  Ben Rose led Grove City with 19 points.

"This was a great team win for us," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "We shot it well again tonight, and we executed at a high level offensively.  To commit just two turnovers and come up with 17 assists tells you how well we moved the ball tonight.  Lyle was great again, while Ryan was really good for us as well.  Isaac and Amos distributed it well, and Matt shot it well.  We've got to rebound it better, but overall this was a good effort.  We got contributions from everyone at a tough place to play.  Now we get ready to host Westminster on Wednesday in a big game for us."

Geneva hosts Westminster on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. before traveling to Chatham on Saturday for a showdown with the first-place Cougars.

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).