PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Geneva men's basketball team recovered well from their loss last night on the opening day of the Chatham Classic, beating SUNY Potsdam on day two of the tournament 86-60. Senior guard Jonathan Bertovich scored a career-high 25 points, hitting five three-pointers for the second consecutive game, and the GTs led almost from start to finish to secure their third win of the season, moving to 3-2 overall.

Things went well offensively for Geneva right from the get-go, with senior Alec Srock pulling down an offensive rebound and scoring on the GTs' opening possession. SUNY Potsdam tied it up, but back-to-back three pointers for Bertovich and senior Trey Barker, followed up by another three-point play from Bertovich, forced the Bears to call a timeout. It didn't do much to cool the Golden Tornadoes down, however, as Bertovich proceeded to nail three treys in a row across the next three possessions to make it a ten-point game, 20-10.

That final three-pointer from Bertovich began a stretch of 13 consecutive points for Geneva, with Barker and Srock each scoring twice over that span. Geneva led 30-10 at the 9:37 mark, and the men didn't slow down as the half wound on. A reverse layup from Bertovich started up another 13-0 run for the GTs, headlined by six points at the rim for Srock and a triple off the hands of junior Ryan Edwards. The Bears played Geneva evenly for the final three minutes of the half, but the damage had been done as the Golden Tornadoes took a 51-24 advantage into the break.

Potsdam came into the second half seemingly with renewed energy, and the GTs struggled defensively as the Bears put up 20 points in the first five minutes of the period, outscoring Geneva by ten over that span. The Bears trimmed the deficit to as few as 13 points at the 11:00 minute mark, but a well-timed three-pointer by Edwards stopped the SUNY school's momentum. The Golden Tornadoes scored the next 11 points to push their advantage back above 20, and there it stayed for the remainder of the game as the men won 86-60.

Bertovich's career-best 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting was the highlight of the day for the men, and he added nine rebounds and five assists for an efficient performance all-around. Srock and Barker each had 16 points, and Srock also pulled down eight rebounds. Sophomore Austin Matthews led the team defensively with a career-high 11 rebounds, scoring 12 points as well to record his first career double-double.

"We did a great job in the first half of sticking to our game plan," said head coach Jeff Santariero after the win. "JB got hot, which made things a lot easier for us, and Alec was playing really well. Potsdam dictated things at first to start the second half, but once our guys settled down defensively we were able to get back to the things we were doing well early on. It was a breakout game for JB, and Austin and Trey continued to play well for us too. Hopefully we can keep it up against two good teams next week."

The men start things off next week with a road game at Pitt-Bradford on Monday, November 24, against a Panthers team that won a game in the Division III national tournament last season. After that, they return home to take on Pitt-Greensburg the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Monday's contest at Bradford is set to tip-off at 7:00 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).