April 12, 2010 - Geneva College
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April 12, 2010

Picture of April 12, 2010

Beaver Falls, PA - Beaver Falls and Geneva College will be transformed into the center of the basketball world this weekend as the Naismith Basketball Exhibit will be on display at Geneva′s Merriman Gymnasium from Thursday through Saturday. It has been a special basketball year at Geneva College as the men′s team advanced to the NCCAA national tournament and place fifth after winning two of three games on the national stage.

Following a tremendous 18-12 season, several of Geneva′s players were in line for post-season honors and those honors came flooding in late last week highlighted by the second straight All-American award for junior forward Rich Colick. Colick was also named to the NCCAA national tournament team along with teammate Bryan Hill. Three Geneva student-athletes were also awarded scholar-athlete recognition for their work in the classroom and on the court. The trio of seniors comprised of Matt Blocki, Nate Reep and Conlan Walsh were all given scholar-athlete honors.

As for Colick, the 6′5 junior forward pretty much put his team on his back during the Geneva post season run. He led Geneva in scoring in 25 of its 30 games this year including five of its six post-season games. At the national tournament, Colick scored 25 in Geneva′s opening round loss to Mid-Continent University and then posted 30 in the season finale victory over Palm Beach Atlantic. For the season, Colick averaged 19.2 points per game and in the process became only the 13th junior in Geneva history to surpass the 1000 point plateau for his career. Hill finished the season with a team best 72 three-point field goals including ten in the game national championship tournament stretch.

"Rich had an incredible year," said head coach Jeff Santarsiero. "He made that leap from good player to great player because of the confidence he build within himself and the way he was able to make his teammates better around him. It will be fun to watch how he continues to progress in his senior year."

As impressive as Colick was on the court, Santarsiero understands the importance of what his guys do in the classroom. "What a tremendous example our three seniors were for the rest of our team," explained Santarsiero. "When you have upperclassmen leading the way academically it can only rub off on the rest of the guys. I am very proud of what each of those guys accomplished."

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).

Apr 12, 2010