February 4, 2009 - Geneva College
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February 4, 2009

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Van Zanic

Director of Sports Information

(724) 847-6886

vgzanic@geneva.edu

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 4, 2009

SLOW START COSTLY AS GENEVA FALLS TO SAINT VINCENT

Beaver Falls, PA - Geneva College head men′s basketball coach Jeff Santarsiero knew his team had to give a solid effort for 40 minutes to compete with one of the top teams in the PAC in Saint Vincent College. The Golden Tornadoes were far from perfect in the first ten minutes as they watched the Bearcats jump out quickly and cruise to a 102-89 decision. The loss was the fourth straight on its home floor for Geneva College as it fell to 5-15 overall for the season. Saint Vincent won for sixth straight time and improved to 17-3 on the season.

The Golden Tornadoes allowed Saint Vincent to sizzle from the field in the first half to the tune of 67% from the field. The Bearcats were 23-34 from the field with most of those coming on transition lay-ups. Geneva turned the ball over 15 times in the first half leading to 26 fast break points. "You cannot make mistakes against this type of opponent," said Santarsiero. "We needed to protect the ball and make it more of a half court game and our effort in the first half prevented that from happening and they took full advantage."

The second half was a different story as Geneva out scored Saint Vincent 53-46 and at one point had the lead trimmed to ten points with just over six minutes to play. "I was extremely proud of the way our guys came back," explained the head coach. "We could have crumbled early, but we kept fighting. The difference in the game was the production they got from their bench." Santarsiero made reference to the fact that Saint Vincent out scored its bench 31-4.

Geneva′s big three of Rich Colick, Dave Phillips and Lambros Svingos all picked up their end of the bargain. Phillips led the charge with 22 points while Colick and Svingos each chipped in with 19 apiece. Brandon Harvey also got into the scoring act with 15 points. The Bearcats got a team high 22 points from Tre′sor Kalambay.

The Golden Tornadoes will enjoy the weekend off before traveling to Waynesburg and Thomas More next week. Geneva returns home to face Penn State Beaver on February 16th.

Feb 4, 2009