WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Geneva men's basketball team took Washington and Jefferson, the preseason favorites in the President' Athletic Conference (PAC), down to the wire on Saturday afternoon, but the Golden Tornadoes saw a last-second call go in W&J's favor allowing the Presidents to hold on for a 68-64 win.  The loss is Geneva's first conference defeat of the season and dropped its record to 6-7 overall, 3-1 in the PAC.

Geneva grabbed an early lead in the game and held it for several minutes.  In fact, a three-pointer from senior Jonathan Bertovich capped off a run that gave the Golden Tornadoes a 19-10 advantage seven minutes into the game.

W&J responded with seven straight points, and Geneva struggled to hit shots from the perimeter for the rest of the half.  A bucket from Bertovich a few minutes later gave the men a 25-20 advantage with seven minutes left, but the Presidents finished off the half with a 16-6 run to take a 36-31 lead into the break.

W&J extended their lead over the opening six minutes of the second half, pulling ahead by its biggest margin of the game, 51-40.  However, a bucket from sophomore Austin Matthews kicked off 12 straight points for the Golden Tornadoes.

Junior Ryan Edwards followed Matthews' bucket with a three-point play, Bertovich hit two free throws and then knocked down a three-pointer, and another layup from Matthews gave Geneva the lead back, 52-51 midway through the half.

The Golden Tornadoes eventually pushed their lead to 59-54 on a layup from senior Alec Srock with seven minutes left, but W&J responded with the key stretch of the game.  The Presidents scored 11 straight points over the next four minutes, aided by turnovers from Geneva, to take a 65-59 lead. 

The Golden Tornadoes battled back, though, and a three-pointer from senior Trey Barker cut the deficit to one point, 65-64, with 1:17 left.

Each team traded empty possessions over the next minute, forcing Geneva to foul.  W&J knocked down a pair of free throws with ten seconds remaining, and the Golden Tornadoes advanced the ball to halfcourt and called a timeout with six seconds remaining.

W&J came out of the timeout intent on fouling to prevent Geneva from getting a three-point shot off that could have tied the game.  Senior Nick Million received the inbounds pass and immediately put up a three-point shot as he was being fouled, and his shot swished through the net for a potential four-point play that would have given Geneva the win.  The referee decided not to allow the shot, though, forcing Geneva into a 1-and-1 situation, which all but sealed the victory for W&J, who held on for the 68-64 victory.

Bertovich led the team with 16 points, and after picking up his first career double-double last Saturday in the win over Hiram, he made it two straight double-doubles by adding 12 rebounds.  Barker and Srock each finished with 11 points, while Million added nine.  Geneva finished 25-of-55 (45.5%) from the floor but were uncharacteristically cold from three-point range, hitting just 4-of-21 (19.0%) from deep, their lowest shooting percentage of the season for a team that came in shooting 38% from range, tops in the PAC.

W&J was led by Michael Blasko's 21 points.  The Presidents shot 22-of-57 (38.6%) from the floor, 8-of-26 (30.8%) from deep.

"We're disappointed to lose a game we thought we had a chance to win," said Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero.  "That stretch late in the game really cost us.  I was proud of the way we battled on the road against one of the best teams in the PAC, though, especially when we really struggled to hit shots today.  The call at the end of the game was frustrating.  That's a shot that really should have counted, especially with the NCAA's focus on continuation this year.  That would have been a huge win for us, but ultimately sometimes calls don't go your way, and we have to do a better job of not letting the game get down to where a call makes such a huge difference.  So we'll try to recover and get ready for our next game."

Geneva will try to rebound on Wednesday when the Golden Tornadoes travel to Thiel for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.