GREENSBURG, Pa. – Senior Isaac Massie had a huge day on Saturday at Pitt-Greensburg, leading the Geneva College men's basketball team, who was missing a couple key starters, to a 74-58 victory over the Bobcats.  The Golden Tornadoes improved to 4-1, while Pitt-Greensburg dropped to 3-3.

The men entered the game without their two leading scorers, Lyle and Trevor Tipton, along with their 45 points per game, who both missed the game due to illness.  Despite playing without the standout duo, the Golden Tornadoes hardly missed a beat, thanks in large part to Massie.

It took over two minutes before either team got on the board, and it was junior Ryan Rachic who broke the ice with a bucket, followed by a three-pointer, to give the Golden Tornadoes an early 5-0 lead.  Pitt-Greensburg would close within 7-6, but it was all Geneva over the next ten minutes.

Massie drained a three-pointer on Geneva's next possession, followed by a layup from junior Payton Triplett and a three-point play from sophomore Mark Rachic.  Back-to-back layups from freshman Aiden Rorick finished off the quick 12-point run to give the Golden Tornadoes a 19-6 advantage.

The Bobcats broke the Geneva run with a free throw, but it did little to slow down the Golden Tornadoes.  Two minutes later, with Geneva leading 25-11, the men finished their dominant stretch with 14 more unanswered points.  Massie started the run with a three-point play, Triplett hit a jumper in the lane, and then Massie, Mark Rachic and freshman Trey Barker completed the burst with back-to-back-to-back three-pointers, giving the Golden Tornadoes a commanding 39-11 lead with six minutes remaining in the half.  In total, it was a 32-5 run.

Geneva's only bad stretch of the game followed over the next three minutes, as four missed shots and three turnovers led to 14 straight Bobcat points before a layup from freshman Jonathan Bertovich finally got the Golden Tornadoes back in the scoring column with two minutes remaining before halftime.  That bucket, along with another three-pointer from Massie to close out the half, helped Geneva take a 44-27 lead into the break.  Massie scored 16 points in the first half, which was already more than his prior career-high of 15 points scored in the season-opening victory over Hiram.

A layup from Triplett two minutes into the second half pushed the Geneva lead back over 20 points, 50-29.  The Bobcats never got closer than 14 points the rest of the game, that coming at the 10:51 mark of the second half, 58-44.  However, the Golden Tornadoes immediately responded with eight unanswered points.  Ryan Rachic scored in the paint, followed by back-to-back three-pointers from Rachic and Massie, and Pitt-Greensburg never threatened again as Geneva easily closed out the 74-58 victory.

Massie finished with a career-high 30 points, shooting 11-of-18 from the floor, 4-of-7 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the free throw line, while adding four assists, three rebounds and two steals, without a turnover.  Ryan Rachic contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds, his third double-double in five games, while Triplett scored a career-high 10 points.  Geneva shot 29-of-58 (50%) from the floor and 9-of-20 (45%) from three-point range, while holding the Bobcats to 38% shooting from the floor.

"Isaac had a huge game for us today," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "We were short-handed, but he stepped up big time, doing it all without a single turnover.  Ryan was good for us as well, finishing with another double-double, while Payton stepped in and also gave us some needed production.  It really was a team win, though, getting production from a lot of different guys.  It was good to pick up a non-conference victory, and now we turn our attention back to the conference."

The men will get to play at home twice next week after playing their last four games on the road.  Geneva will host Allegheny at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, followed by a home contest against Franciscan next Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

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).