Beaver Falls, PA - In a game that featured 11 ties in the first 25 minute between Geneva and Bethany, a second half dry spell proved to be the difference in Geneva dropping its first home game of the season. Bethany put the Golden Tornadoes away in the final ten minutes to secure a 76-62 decision. The loss pushed Geneva′s record back to 6-3 while the Bison improved to 6-3 heading into the holiday break.
With the game tied at 52-52 with 12:40 on the clock, Geneva′s offense shut off while the Bison took off on their end of the floor. For the next six minutes, Bethany ran off 14 consecutive points to open a 14-point lead and never lead Geneva get within nine points of the lead the rest of the night. "It′s really hard to explain what happened in the second half," said Geneva head coach Jeff Santarsiero. "Bethany is a very athletic team and they really took the game from us during that tough stretch. We had some open looks that we have been knocking down so far this season, but we just couldn′t get a big one to fall for us tonight."
Geneva came into action as the leading three-point shooting team in the Presidents′ Athletic Conference. On Saturday night, the Golden Tornadoes connected on eight three-pointers but shot just 33% from outside the arc. "I think we are starting to rely too much on the perimeter game and when it was falling for us, we got in a rut."
Bryan Hill, who was honored before the game for reaching the 1000 point mark last week, scored a team best 13 points including three treys. Richard Colick scored 11 points and David Phillips added 11 in a losing cause. The Bison were led by British Alexander′s 19 points while teammate Nick Wilcox added 18 points on 7-10 shooting from the field.
Bethany out scored Geneva 40-26 in the second half and held Geneva to just seven field goals, while putting up a 54% mark from the field of its own. "Give Bethany credit," said Santarsiero. "They shut our offense down and were able to execute their own offense very well. We have a lot to work on before we go back to work after Christmas."
Geneva will have to keep this loss on its mind for a while as the Golden Tornadoes won′t play again until the Case Western tournament on December 29-30. Geneva returns to Metheny Fieldhouse on January 3rd to host Thomas More.
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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