Washington, PA - Geneva′s Lambros Svingos made the first basket of the game against Washington & Jefferson on Wednesday night and that was pretty much the end of the highlights for the Golden Tornadoes. The 2-0 lead was Geneva′s only lead of the night in an 89-73 loss to the Presidents. Geneva matched its season long losing streak at five games and fell to 5-19 overall and 4-11 in the PAC following Wednesday night′s action. Even more concerning is that Geneva has put itself in the precarious position of fighting to stay out of next Monday′s PAC play-in game.
The Golden Tornadoes now sit just one game ahead of eighth place Washington & Jefferson. A Geneva loss to Westminster in the season finale on Saturday paired with a W & J victory over last place Waynesburg on Saturday would cause Geneva to slip into eighth place and be forced to host a first round play-in game on Monday night against Waynesburg. The winner of that game would have to turn around 24 hours later and travel to the PAC′s top seed.
Geneva′s troubles on Wednesday night began with a hot shooting Presidents team. W & J opened up a lead of as many as 12 points in the first half before settling for a 46-36 advantage at the break. W & J shot 55% from the field in the opening stanza while Geneva was also hitting at a solid clip of 51%. The Presidents continued to sizzle in the second half and never led the Golden Tornadoes make a serious charge.
David Phillips led Geneva with 20 points on 6-14 shooting from the field. Matt Lorello and Keynon Jackson each put up 13 points while Lambros Svingos added 11 points in the loss. Geneva simply did not have a defensive answer for W & J as both Uchenna Okocha and Zach Bellhy scored 18 points while teammate Andy Carter added 16 points in what was only the third PAC victory for W & J on the season.
Geneva will close out the regular season on Saturday night at home against Westminster. A victory over the Titans would secure the sixth seed in the PAC standings while a loss could drop Geneva all the way to eighth leading into Geneva′s first-ever PAC tournament next week. Geneva seniors David Phillips, Lambros Svingos and Drew Santarsiero will be honored prior to Saturday night′s tip-off at 7:30 pm.
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.
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