January 11, 2011 - Geneva College
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January 11, 2011

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Beaver Falls, PA - Geneva College leading scorer Rich Colick was held without a field goal and starting center Lambros Svingos connected on one field goal. Despite those numbers, the Golden Tornadoes and their PAC leading offense turned up the defensive pressure and cruised past Grove City 71-59 at Metheny Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. The victory moved Geneva to 10-4 while the Wolverines fell to 4-10 on the season.

Colick, who was plagued by foul trouble all night, played only 19 minutes and was 0-1 from the field. He connected on a pair of foul shots with seven minutes left in the game for his only points of the night. "We didn′t have Rich all night," said head coach Jeff Santarsiero. "There are going to be nights when we need to rely on some other people and we got that effort tonight."

Namely David Phillips and Bryan Hill picked up the offensive slack with 22 and 17 points respectively. The long distance shooting duo combined for eight three point field goals to lift the Golden Tornadoes. "We needed to win this game on the defensive end of the floor," said Santarsiero. "We got some big shots from Dave and Bryan but this is always a grind against Grove City and I was very proud of our defensive effort." Grove City shot just 37% from the field and committed 13 turnovers in the game. Meanwhile, Geneva controlled the glass by the count of 40-31 with Phillips pulling down a game high eight rebounds.

Geneva led by as many as 19 points in the first half and took a 40-25 lead into the locker room. The Wolverines were never able to get the deficit into single digits as the Golden Tornadoes cruised down the stretch to move their home record to 6-1 on the season. "We have played very well at home this year," said Santarsiero. "You have to protect your home court in this league and we have done a nice job of that all season."

Bryce Salomone came off the bench for Geneva to score 11 points while Brandon Sopko was solid in all areas with four points, six rebounds and a team best eight assists.

Grove City got 15 points from Evan Schell as the only Wolverine to reach double figures. Geneva will host another rival in Westminster College on Saturday afternoon at 3 pm in an effort to keep rolling on the home floor. Next week will feature a pair of road games at Waynesburg and W & J.

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).

Jan 12, 2011