BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It was a rough preseason for the Geneva College men's basketball team, who had multiple players suffer injuries and battle sickness, and on Wednesday night a short-handed Golden Tornado squad dropped their season-opener to Hiram, 74-63, inside Metheny Fieldhouse.

Geneva got off to a good start, led by one of their returning starters who was in the lineup, senior Payton Triplett.  Triplett scored three early buckets as the Golden Tornadoes jumped ahead 8-2 four minutes into the game.

However, after Triplett's early burst, Geneva went cold, and the Terriers took advantage.  Over the next six minutes, Hiram went on an 18-4 run to grab a 20-12 lead at the halfway point of the first half.  A three-pointer from graduate student Ryan Rachic began to get the Golden Tornadoes offense unlocked again, and three minutes later, back-to-back three-pointers from junior Nick Million gave Geneva the lead back, 25-24.

The Golden Tornadoes eventually pushed their lead to 32-27 on a three-point play from junior Alec Srock with three minutes to go.  Hiram finished the half with a brief run to take a 36-34 lead before a layup by graduate student KC Johns sent to the two teams into the break tied at 36-36.

The opening minutes of the second half were tight between the two squads.  A three-pointer from senior Mark Rachic gave Geneva a 44-42 edge five minutes in, and midway through the second half a bucket from Ryan Rachic evened the score at 50-50. 

Another bucket from Ryan Rachic pulled Geneva within 54-52 with eight minutes remaining, but the Golden Tornadoes seemed to run out of gas at that point.  The Terriers outscored Geneva 16-5 over the next four minutes to pull ahead 70-57, and the Golden Tornadoes never got the deficit into single digits again, falling 74-63.

Ryan Rachic led the team with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Triplett added 11 points and seven rebounds.  Million and Mark Rachic each contributed ten points for Geneva, which was a career high for Million, as the GTs finished 25-of-62 (40.3%) from the field, 6-of-21 (28.6%) from three-point range. 

Geneva never found a way to slow down Hiram, who scored 109 points in its season opener over the weekend.  The Terriers shot 31-of-55 (56.4%) from the field, 7-of-17 (41.2%) from deep.  Trent Jakacki scored 16 points to lead three players in double figures for Hiram.

"We didn't shoot the ball very well tonight, and we had too many turnovers at key moments," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "They're a good offensive team, very balanced both inside and out.  We're a pretty dinged up team right now, missing some key guys and having some guys that played that weren't 100%, but we didn't play well enough offensively or defensively to deserve to win.  We'll watch the tape and work on what we need to before we play again next week."

Geneva has a week off, which is much needed, before it returns to action next Wednesday when the Golden Tornadoes host Baldwin Wallace on Wednesday inside Metheny Fieldhouse at 7:30 p.m.