January 15, 2011 - Geneva College
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January 15, 2011

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Beaver Falls, PA - Geneva has played Westminster College in more men′s basketball games than any other opponent. In fact, the rivalry dates back to 1898 when the teams first hooked up. During that time, both teams have enjoyed success against the other over long stretches of time. The current stretch has Geneva controlling the series and on Saturday the Golden Tornadoes defeated Westminster 93-80 for their 14th win in the last 15 tries. With the victory, Geneva moved to 11-4 matching its best start since the 2000 season. Meanwhile, Westminster continued to struggle falling to 0-9 on the road this year and continues to look for its first win away from New Wilmington since last January.

Geneva used a hot shooting first half to open up a 52-36 lead at the break. The Golden Tornadoes shot 62% from the field in the first 20 minutes to go along with a 14-17 effort from the foul line in the first stanza. "We came out and played very hard in the first half," said head coach Jeff Santarsiero. "We didn′t execute nearly as well in the second half but our defense continued to play well and we were able to keep this thing going in the right direction." Santarsiero′s club improved to 7-1 on its home floor and won for the fifth time in six games.

Westminster tried to stay in the game in the second half but could not get the lead trimmed into single digits. The Titans featured a balanced attack with four players finishing the game in double figures led by Christian Shea′s 14 points. The Titans, however, had no defensive answers for senior Richard Colick. Colick finished with a season high 30 points on 12-17 shooting from the field. He also pulled down a team best 11 rebounds. "Rich was held to two points on Wednesday night so we knew he would come out and play a strong game," said Santarsiero. "He just works extremely hard to get shots and he has been doing that for four years." Colick got help from Lambros Svingos and his 19 points and eight boards. Senior point guard Brandon Sopko scored 14 points while dishing out seven assists in the victory.

Geneva will head to Waynesburg and W & J next week before returning home to face Thiel College at 7:30 pm on January 26th.

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 15, 2011