STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – The Geneva College men's basketball team completed the season sweep over Franciscan on Wednesday night, with both games coming in the last three days, as the Golden Tornadoes used a balanced attack and led almost the whole game in a 94-86 victory over the Barons. Geneva has now won three straight games in improving its record to 12-8 overall, 10-4 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Franciscan dropped to 7-13, 5-9 in the PAC. The ten PAC victories are the most for the Golden Tornadoes since joining the conference ten years ago.
Geneva opened with an early burst. Junior Isaac Massie (Cross Lanes, W.Va./Homeschool) hit a three-pointer, senior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) scored on a layup, junior Ryan Rachic (Prince Frederick, Md./Calvert) hit two free throws and junior Lyle Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) followed with a layup in transition to give Geneva a quick 9-2 lead.
Franciscan got its offense going, though, pulling within two points, but senior Matt Veynovich (Pompano Beach, Fla./Highlands Academy) hit a three-pointer five minutes in putting all five Geneva starters into the scoring column only a few minutes into the game. The game would prove to be one of back-and-forth runs from each team.
The Barons answered with a 7-1 run to take a brief 21-19 lead, but it didn't last long, with Rachic responding with a three-pointer to give the Golden Tornadoes the lead back. A minute later, with the score tied at 25-25, Geneva scored seven straight points on layups from Massie and Luptak and another three-pointer from Veynovich. Three minutes later, a 6-0 run on four points from Rachic and two from Tipton extended the Golden Tornado lead to 42-30. Franciscan scored the last five points of the half, though, to cut the Geneva lead to 42-35 at the break. Rachic led the team with 11 points in the half.
Franciscan's Sean Hickey, who provided much of the Baron offense in the game, scored seven points in a 9-4 Franciscan run to open the second half, pulling the Barons within 46-44. Geneva refused to let Franciscan get any closer, though. The Golden Tornadoes responded with a 12-4 run over the next three minutes to build their lead back up to 58-48 five minutes into the half.
The Barons answered right back, though, scoring eight straight points to pull back within two points, 58-56. Veynovich responded with his third three-pointer of the game, kicking off a 14-3 Geneva run, giving the Golden Tornadoes a 72-59 lead with 8:42 remaining, with the run capped off by a three-pointer from senior Mike Melewski (Boardman, Ohio/Boardman).
Geneva took its biggest lead of the game, 77-63, after Veynovich knocked down another three-pointer and Tipton added a bucket with 6:30 remaining. The Barons wouldn't go away, though, using back-to-back three-pointers as part of eight straight points to pull within six points.
However, the Golden Tornadoes always had an answer. Franciscan cut the deficit to six points on five different occasions over the final five minutes, but each time Geneva responded with a bucket, and the Golden Tornadoes held on for the 94-86 victory.
Rachic led the offense with 25 points, while Tipton was right behind with 23 points. Luptak and Veynovich each finished with 15 points, while Massie chipped in with nine points. As a team, the Golden Tornadoes shot 51.6% from the floor, including 7-of-19 (36.8%) from three-point range.
Franciscan shot even better from the floor, finishing at 53% while hitting 7-of-14 (50%) from three-point range. A big difference came at the foul line, where Geneva hit 23-of-29 (79.3%) compared to 9-of-11 (81.8%) for the Barons. In addition, Franciscan committed 20 turnovers, while Geneva turned it over just 10 times. Franciscan held a 37-30 edge in rebounds. Hickey led the Barons with a game-high 34 points.
"This was another great team win for us," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero. "Any time you can pick up a road win in this conference, it's a good night. We really got a very balanced effort across our team tonight. Ryan was obviously great again, but all five of our starters were really good, and our bench gave us a lift as well. Now we turn our attention to a really big game on Saturday."
Geneva is back in action on Saturday with a big home game against a W&J team that is tied for first in the PAC with Chatham, two games ahead of the Golden Tornadoes. Geneva will be celebrating Senior Day prior to the 3:00 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).
