PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Geneva College men's basketball team dropped its first game of the season to a hot-shooting Chatham squad on Tuesday night, 91-75.  The loss drops Geneva's record to 3-1 overall, 2-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Chatham improved to 2-2 overall, 2-0 in the PAC.

Geneva got off to a great start, scoring the first eight points of the game.  However, the Golden Tornadoes then went ice cold, while Chatham got hot from long range.  Over the next eight minutes, the Cougars went on a 26-4 run, with another Chatham three-pointer giving the Cougars a 26-12 lead midway through the first half.

Chatham extended its lead to as high as 37-21 before Geneva finished with the half well.  Five straight points from sophomore Trevor Tipton pulled Geneva within 39-32 before a late bucket from Chatham gave the Cougars a 41-32 edge at the break.

Chatham pushed its lead back out to 51-37 early in the second half before the Golden Tornadoes went on a run.  Senior Lyle Tipton hit a jumper to start the run, with freshman Jonathan Bertovich knocking down two three-point shots.  Trevor Tipton hit a jumper to make it 12 straight points, and after the Cougars knocked down another three-point shot, five straight points from sophomore Mark Rachic, followed by two buckets from Lyle Tipton, completed a 21-3 run to give Geneva a 58-54 lead.

However, Chatham continued to hit from long range.  With the Cougars trailing 60-56, Chatham answered with another big run, fueled primarily by long range shots.  The Cougars went on an 20-2 run to build back a double-digit lead, 76-62, with seven minutes remaining, and Geneva never really threatened again, losing 91-75.

The big difference in the game was from behind the three-point line.  Chatham, which came into the game shooting just 29% from long range on the season, finished the game 12-of-23 (52%) from three-point range, while Geneva, which had hit 48% from deep coming into the game, made just 3-of-19 (16%).

Ryan Rachic led the team with 19 points and 11 rebounds, Lyle Tipton contributed 18 points and Trevor Tipton finished with 17 points.  Geneva shot 40% from the floor, while Chatham finished at 51%.  Simon Boyer, who came into the game 2-of-18 from long range, made 5-of-6 from deep and led the Cougars with 23 points. 

"When you play on the road, you have to be focused for 40 minutes, and we weren't tonight," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "We played well for about 15 minutes, and Jonathan gave us some good minutes in the second half, but the rest of the time we didn't guard well enough and didn't play to our scouting report.  Give credit to Chatham for making a lot of shots, and we missed a lot of open looks from the perimeter that we normally hit.  We'll take a couple days off and then come back Friday to get ready for Pitt-Greensburg."

Geneva will look to rebound from its first loss of the season when the Golden Tornadoes travel to Pitt-Greensburg on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff.

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).