HIRAM, Ohio – The Geneva men's basketball team followed the women's key victory over Hiram on Wednesday night by holding off a late Terrier rally to win 76-69, finishing off the doubleheader sweep for the Golden Tornadoes.  Geneva is now 10-14 overall, 7-8 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC).

It was actually Hiram that jumped out quickly to a lead, grabbing a 14-6 advantage six minutes into the game against a Geneva squad still missing two key starters due to injury.  The Terriers still led 19-12 at the halfway point of the first half before the Golden Tornadoes began to rally.

A three-pointer from freshman Tayt Lucas got the Geneva run going.  Two minutes later, back-to-back three-pointers from senior Trey Barker pulled the men within 22-21, and sophomore Tommy Coletti followed with a jumper to give the men their first lead since the opening minute of the game, 23-22.  Hiram answered briefly to regain the lead, but a three-pointer from junior Ryan Edwards and a layup from sophomore Austin Matthews in the final minute of the half gave the Golden Tornadoes a 34-30 edge at the break.

The Geneva lead hovered between three and seven points for the first eight minutes of the second half before another three-pointer from Barker and a layup from Matthews gave the men their first double-digit lead of the game, 53-43.  Geneva eventually stretched its lead to 59-45 after four straight points from Coletti with eight minutes remaining before Hiram began to rally.

Hiram slowly started to cut into the Geneva advantage, quickly cutting the deficit into single digits and then using a late 10-2 run to close within 68-67 with a little over a minute remaining.  Senior Alec Srock came up with the key play of the game, though, grabbing an errant Geneva shot with less than a minute remaining and laying it in, while being fouled.  He converted the free throw to push the Golden Tornado lead to 71-67, and the men made their free throws over the final minute to seal the 76-69 win.

Coletti played all 40 minutes and led the men with 22 points.  Barker added 16 points, on 5-of-8 shooting from deep, while Srock and Matthews both posted double-doubles.  Srock finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Matthews added 13 points and 10 boards.  As a team Geneva shot 25-of-57 (43.9%) from the floor, 8-of-19 (42.1%) from three-point range.  The men also held a significant edge in rebounds, 44-29.

Collin Jones led Hiram with 16 points.

Geneva will wrap up its regular season on Saturday with a 3:00 p.m. home matchup against Westminster.  The program will honor its seniors prior to the game, along with Head Coach Jeff Santarsiero, who will be coaching his final home game.  The PAC playoffs begin next Tuesday, with Geneva scheduled to begin the postseason on the road.