February 21, 2012 - Geneva College
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February 21, 2012

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Crestview Hills, KY - A long day and night for the Geneva College men′s basketball team to say the least. Making the trip to Kentucky is never an easy one and the Golden Tornadoes were unable to keep up their intensity for 40 minutes in the opening round of the Presidents′ Athletic Conference tournament. Playing in their first PAC tournament game, Geneva dropped an 82-56 decision to Thomas More to see its season come to an abrupt ending. The loss dropped Geneva′s record to 6-20 for the season marking just the second time in Jeff Santarsiero′s 14-year tenure that the Golden Tornadoes dropped 20 games in a season.

The 26-point differential was far from accurate account of the game. In fact, the Golden Tornadoes led the game nearly mid-way through the second half before the offense shut down. Geneva trailed 49-41 at the half but quickly rallied to take its only lead of the game. Dave Phillips scored five straight points with just under 12 minutes left in the second half to give Geneva a 49-48 lead. The Golden Tornadoes managed to score on seven more points the rest of the game as Thomas More finished the night on a 34-7 run to move on to the PAC semi-finals.

"We gave a good effort for 30 minutes," said head coach Jeff Santarsiero. "Any one knows winning a play-off game on the road requires a full 40 minute effort and we just didn′t have anything left in the tank. I can′t say enough about what these seniors have meant to this program. They have stuck together and helped us make this transition into the PAC. We are going to have a hard time replacing the likes of David Phillips, Lambros Svingos and Drew Santarsiero."

Svingos led the senior trio with 14 points on 7-13 shooting before fouling out in the second half. Phillips was held off the board in the first half and finished with nine points in the game. Santarsiero led Geneva with six rebounds to go along with seven points. The newest Geneva player, Keynon Jackson, scored 14 points on 6-11 shooting to match Svingos for the team lead. Thomas More knocked down eight three-point field goals in the game and shot 53% from the field in the second half to put the game away.

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.

Feb 21, 2012