BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Despite playing without two of their usual starters due to injury, the Geneva men's basketball team battled to a hard-fought victory Wednesday night, defeating Thiel College 74-67. The win solidified Geneva's spot in the upcoming Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) playoffs, giving them a three-game lead over the Tomcats, as well as the tiebreaker between the two teams, with three games to play. Geneva moves up to 9-13 overall with the win, 6-7 in the PAC.

The Golden Tornadoes knew it would be a tough matchup with the Tomcats after finding out they would be missing seniors Jonathan Bertovich and Nick Million because of injuries, and that proved to be the case right from the get-go as Thiel stormed out to a 9-1 lead. Sophomore Austin Matthews scored Geneva's first field goal of the game just over three minutes in, and he sank a layup plus the foul on the next possession to pull the men within three points. The Tomcats extended their advantage to seven with back-to-back buckets, but a 9-0 GT run shortly thereafter gave the men their first lead of the game, 15-13.

A triple by junior Ryan Edwards sent Geneva in front 18-15, but Thiel worked its way back to gain a one-point edge by the 7:47 mark of the first half. The Golden Tornadoes went on another run at that point, however, outscoring the visitors 8-2 over the next three minutes, with a soaring dunk by sophomore Tommy Coletti giving them some energy. The Tomcats made things difficult for the rest of the half, with each team trading baskets up till the break, but a buzzer-beating baseline jumper from Coletti gave the Golden Tornadoes a 34-33 advantage at the end of the half.

That back-and-forth theme continued into the second half with the score remaining at a one-possession difference for the first three minutes of the frame. Senior Trey Barker sank a three-pointer as part of an 8-2 run for Geneva which gave the GTs an eight-point lead, and that grew to nine points, their largest lead of the night, thanks to a driving layup by Coletti with twelve minutes to play.

Geneva did a good job of getting to the free-throw line over the next several minutes, drawing fouls time and again from the Tomcat players, but slowly, the visitors began to creep back into the game. The Golden Tornadoes' lead was cut to four points with 4:28 to play, and it looked as though Thiel would tie the game up at any moment. Barker came up huge, however, hitting two three-pointers in the final four minutes, as well as a couple of free throws, to boost Geneva's lead back into double figures, and the men closed out the game well to secure a 74-67 win.

Thiel shot better than Geneva did from the field, making 43.9% of its shots, including a 4-for-10 (40.0%) effort from distance, while the GTs shot 42.6% from the field and only 5-for-16 (31.3%) from three. Second-chance points proved to be critical, however, with the Golden Tornadoes outscoring the opposition in that category 22-13.

Coletti had a big game for the GTs, tying his career-high 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting, and he added eight boards, three steals, and two blocks as well. Barker had a big second half, finishing with 15 points, while Matthews, senior Alec Srock, and Edwards all reached double figures in scoring as well. Srock pulled down a team-best nine boards in the win.

"That was a gutty win for us," commented head coach Jeff Santarsiero. "With us not being at full strength, I felt the guys all stepped up. Ryan specifically handled his role really well, and obviously Tommy had a great game. Our bigs did exceptionally well on the boards as well. Happy for them – they embodied the culture of Geneva College tonight."

The men are on the road this weekend, traveling to Chatham on Saturday, February 14 for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off.

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).