December 29, 2008 - Geneva College
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December 29, 2008

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Van Zanic

Director of Sports Information

(724) 847-6886

vgzanic@geneva.edu

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December 29, 2008

GENEVA FALLS TO CALVIN AT DEFIANCE TOURNAMENT

Defiance, OH - All college coaches are concerned with how their team will respond after a significant lay-off. Geneva men′s basketball coach Jeff Santarsiero is no different and he found himself and his team in that very position on Monday night. Geneva was coming off a 15 day rest to compete in the opening round of the Defiance College tournament. The Golden Tornadoes dropped a 91-65 decision to Calvin College to fall to 2-6 on the season, including losses in six of the last seven games.

"I really don′t think the lay-off really affected us," said Santarsiero. "We competed against an outstanding team in the first half and battled our way back into the game at halftime. We just couldn′t put anything together in the second half and they really picked it up defensively in the final 20 minutes."

After Geneva took a 2-0 lead to open the game, Calvin regained the advantage at 3-2 and never looked back. Calvin opened up a 12 point first half lead, but the Golden Tornadoes rallied late in the first stanza to get back to within 49-41 at the break. Geneva pulled to within seven points at 54-47 at the 15:01 mark, but Calvin ran off an 18-2 run in the next six minutes to open up a 72-49 lead. "I felt we were a shot or two away from really get back into the game, but the momentum just went in the wrong direction and we couldn′t regain our composure."

Geneva shot the ball exceptionally well in the first half at 54% from the field, but finished the game 25-62 (43%). The Golden Tornadoes could not generate much from behind the three point arc as they managed just 2-13 from long range. Richard Colick, Geneva′s leading scorer coming into the game, led the way with 15 points as one of just two Golden Tornadoes in double figures. Brandon Harvey came off the bench to score ten points. Dave Phillips finished with eight points and Justin Nardi picked up seven points in the loss.

Calvin featured a well-balanced offensive attack with four players in double figures including a game high 18 points from Dustin Smith.

Geneva will compete in Tuesday night′s consolation game at Defiance at 5:00 pm against the loser of the match-up between Defiance and Rockford.

The Golden Tornadoes will get back into PAC play on Saturday night at Saint Vincent College. Geneva returns to Metheny Fieldhouse on January 10th to take on Waynesburg.

Dec 29, 2008