Beaver Falls, PA - It was clear coming into the current stretch on the schedule that victories would have to be earned for Geneva′s men′s basketball team. After falling to Thiel on Wednesday, the Golden Tornadoes dropped a 75-67 decision to Bethany College on Saturday afternoon. The Bison improved to 14-5 on the season while Geneva fell to 11-9 after seeing its six game win streak come to an end on Wednesday.
"This is as disappointed as I have been all season," said head coach Jeff Santarsiero. "We didn′t have the type of intensity on both ends of the floor that was needed against this type of opponent. They (Bethany) are the top offensive rebounding team in the conference and our guys didn′t respond on the glass."
Bethany pulled down 18 offensive rebounds and held the advantage on the glass by the count of 38-30. Despite the deficit on the glass, Geneva still had its chances down the stretch. The Golden Tornadoes took a 36-35 lead at the half but watched Bethany put up 40 points in the final 20 minutes. Never leading by more than five points until the closing minutes of the game, Bethany was finally able to ice the game away at the foul line with a mark of 13-15 from the charity stripe.
Rich Colick did all he could to keep Geneva around in the second half with a game best 29 points, which was only one shy of his career high. Nate Reep played perhaps the game of his career off the bench with 13 points and a perfect 6-6 from the field. Colick and Reep were the only Geneva players to score in double figures. Joe Testa scored a team high 19 points for Bethany while teammate Jay Lyonett posted 16 for the Bison.
The Golden Tornadoes will continue their tough stretch on Wednesday when Thomas More comes to town. Geneva will try to earn a season split after falling 104-82 to the Saints in Kentucky in early January.
Geneva College is a comprehensive Christian college of the arts, sciences and professional studies. Founded in the tradition of the Reformed Christian faith, Geneva prepares students to serve Christ in all areas of society: work, family and the church. Geneva College′s philosophy of education is based on the Foundational Concepts of Christian Higher Education. Geneva is a founding member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).
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