GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Geneva College men's basketball team dropped a post-Thanksgiving contest at Pitt-Greensburg on Saturday afternoon, 78-65.  The best news of the day was that the Golden Tornadoes didn't suffer a significant injury to a key player in the game, which has been a common theme so far this season.

Pitt-Greensburg opened the game with nine quick points in the first two minutes before Geneva responded.  Graduate student Ryan Rachic knocked down a three-pointer, graduate student KC Johns hit a layup, senior Mark Rachic followed with a bucket and the run was capped off with a three-pointer from freshman Tommy Coletti to give the Golden Tornadoes a 10-9 lead four minutes into the game.

Geneva went cold over the next six minutes, though, and the Bobcats regained a 19-13 lead at the midway point of the first half.  Coletti responded with a jumper and a three-pointer, and a minute later another three-pointer from junior Jonathan Bertovich pulled Geneva even at 24-24.  A couple minutes later, a layup from Johns gave the Golden Tornadoes a 28-26 lead with four minutes left in the half.

Unfortunately, that was the last lead Geneva would manage in the game.  Pitt-Greensburg ended the half on a 9-1 run to take a 35-29 lead into the halftime break.

Bertovich hit another three-pointer out of the halftime break to pull Geneva within three points, but the Bobcats scored the next six points to extend their lead back to nine points, 41-32.

The men used the three-pointer to try to stay close.  The Rachic brothers, along with junior Nick Million, each connected from deep, and after a layup in transition from Million, Geneva pulled within 56-55 and forced the Bobcats to take a timeout.

However, Pitt-Greensburg responded well out of the timeout, extending its lead back to 64-57 with seven minutes left, and Geneva could never find a response, seeing the Bobcats pull away for a 78-65 victory.

"This was a game of runs," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "We got off to a bad start but then started playing like we're capable of in taking the lead in the first half.  However, I thought in the second half we really got outworked on the boards, and that was really the big difference in the game.  We defended their leading scorer well, but we let some other guys get going and didn't do enough defensively to win."

Ryan Rachic led the team with 19 points and eight rebounds.  Coletti set a new career high with 13 points, while Mark Rachic chipped in with 11 points.  As a team Geneva shot just 22-of-57 (38.6%) from the floor, but the Golden Tornadoes did have their best shooting effort of the season from deep, hitting 12-of-29 (41.4%) three-pointers. 

Trent Rozich led four Bobcats in double figures with 17 points.  Pitt-Greensburg shot 32-of-64 (50%) from the floor and used a size advantage to post a big edge on the boards, 43-28.

Saturday's game was the first of four straight games on the road for the men.  Geneva returns to conference action on Wednesday when the Golden Tornadoes travel to Allegheny for an 8:00 p.m. start.