SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Geneva College men's basketball team suffered a narrow 70-69 loss to Southwestern on the opening day of the Leslie Robinson Christmas Classic, hosted by Trinity (TX). The game came down to the final seconds, with the Golden Tornadoes missing a shot at the buzzer that would have won the game. Geneva drops to 8-2, while Southwestern improves to 4-9.
Things could not have started much worse for Geneva. The Golden Tornadoes made just one shot in the first ten minutes, while committing eight turnovers, and midway through the first half Geneva trailed 21-5.
The men answered with 11 straight points, though, to get back into the game, and with four minutes left in the half, a long three-pointer from senior Isaac Massie gave the Golden Tornadoes their first lead, 24-23. However, Southwestern answered with eight straight points, enabling the Pirates to head into halftime with a 31-26 lead. Senior Lyle Tipton had 12 points, while Massie added ten points in the half as the two seniors provided almost all the offense.
Sophomore Trevor Tipton opened the second half with a three-pointer and a bucket, and two minutes later a three-pointer from junior Ryan Rachic gave Geneva the lead back, 36-34. The Golden Tornadoes led for most of the next nine minutes, taking their biggest lead of the game, 52-47, with nine minutes left on another three-pointer from Trevor Tipton.
Southwestern scored the next six points, though. A minute later a free throw from Trevor Tipton gave Geneva the lead back briefly, 56-55, but the Pirates held the lead for most of the rest of the game. Southwestern extended its lead to 68-64 with three minutes left, but the Golden Tornadoes had one last run, highlighted by a three-pointer with ten seconds remaining from Lyle Tipton to give Geneva a brief 69-68 lead.
However, Southwestern's Sam Lacy raced down the court and made a driving layup with four seconds left, and after a Geneva timeout with one second left at halfcourt, a fall-away 17-footer from Lyle Tipton at the buzzer hit off the front rim, enabling the Pirates to hold on for the 70-69 victory.
Lyle Tipton finished the game with 28 points, right at his season average. Trevor Tipton added 14 points, Massie 13 points and Rachic 11 points. Geneva managed just three points from the rest of its roster. The Golden Tornadoes struggled from the floor most of the game, shooting just 37%, including a 10-of-30 (33%) effort from long range.
Southwestern took advantage of its size down low to do most of its damage, with the Pirates shooting 42% and doing most of its scoring around the hoop or at the foul line. Center Brock Luechtefeld scored a career-high 18 points to lead Southwestern.
"This certainly wasn't our best effort of the year," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero. "We were pretty poor early on, probably not surprising with trip down here and not having played in ten days. We battled back into things, though, after our bad start. We then played well at times in the second half, but down the stretch we defended poorly and gave up too many easy looks in the paint. It hurt to have Mark and Ryan battling foul trouble all game, and we also really hurt ourselves at the foul line, missing some key free throws late. So, it's pretty frustrating, but we'll have to learn from this quickly, because Trinity will be even tougher tomorrow."
Geneva will wrap up play in Texas tomorrow when it plays host Trinity at 2:00 p.m.
Through purposeful learning in a community reflecting the full spectrum of God's kingdom, a Geneva College experience inspires students to discover a faith-life calling in service to God and neighbor. Offering 195+ traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality and affordability. 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 the International Association for Christian Education (IACE).
