BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva men's basketball team needed a win against Grove City tonight to maintain their hopes of hosting a quarterfinal playoff game, and the Golden Tornadoes did just that against a Wolverine team that defeated them earlier this season in comeback fashion. The GTs took a lead on their opening possession of the game, and they never relinquished it, leading the entire way. With their fourth consecutive win, their record moves up to 13-11 on the season, 11-8 in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play, and the loss brings Grove City's overall record down to 15-9, 12-7 in the PAC. The Wolverines stand just one game ahead of Geneva in the PAC standings with one game each to play.

Back-to-back fadeaway jumpers by Mark and Ryan Rachic on Geneva's first two possessions gave the men an immediate advantage, and a three-pointer by freshman Tommy Coletti a minute later put them in front 7-0 early on. Over the next four minutes, the Wolverines were able to pull back within two points, 11-9, but the Golden Tornadoes recovered with a layup and two free throws from Mark Rachic.

A triple from senior Trevor Tipton at the four-minute mark pushed Geneva's advantage up to seven, 22-15, but Grove City once again absorbed the hit and quickly reduced the deficit back to three points in the following minute. The GTs put together a stellar final three minutes of the half, closing on an 8-0 run behind some strong play on both ends of the floor by Ryan Rachic, who had two baskets and three rebounds in that stretch. Geneva went into the halftime break leading 30-19.

Tipton came out of the locker room blazing hot, nailing back-to-back three-pointers on the GTs' first two possessions of the second half. Those buckets extended the men's lead to 36-19, the largest it had been to that point. Grove City battled, trying to cut down the deficit, but seven consecutive points from Tipton pushed the Geneva lead up to 19 with twelve minutes to play.

Out of a media timeout, the visitors responded to that run from Tipton with seven points of their own. Two baskets from Mark Rachic combined with another from Ryan gave control back to the men, and a fastbreak layup by graduate student KC Johns made it a 17-point game once again. For yet another time, Grove City seemed to pick things up, cutting the deficit to ten points with five minutes to play, but solid post play from junior Alec Srock off the bench helped the men to keep their cool. Tipton sank another three to make the score 61-48 with 2:13 to play, and the GTs took care of business from then on out, winning the game 63-55.

Tipton ended the game with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including a 5-for-9 effort from long range. Mark Rachic followed him up with 13 points of his own, and Ryan Rachic contributed 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting as well as a game-high ten rebounds. The Golden Tornadoes outshot Grove City by a lot, making 23-of-44 (52%) shots compared to the Wolverines 22-for-68 (32%) mark. Isaac Cherry led the visitors with 15 points.

"I thought we played a great first half defensively, holding them to 19 points," said head coach Jeff Santarsiero following the win. "The guys were locked in, we had good offensive flow. We're starting to get it. With Trevor playing a lot better, and us distributing the ball better, it bodes well for us. We have to win on Saturday if we want to host a playoff game, and our mentality for these last four games has been to win out. I'm proud of them and the way they've played during this stretch."

That all-important final game of the regular season comes this Saturday, February 22^nd, at Franciscan University. The Barons won the first matchup of the season between the two teams, 75-66, but the men need a win if they want to host their first-round playoff game next week.

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).