Beaver Falls, PA – The Geneva men played its best two minutes of the game in the final minute of each half and pulled off a win in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference opener, 56-55 over Thiel to improve to 3-4, 1-0.
In the final minute of the first half, it was offense that carried the day as the Golden Tornadoes scored five points in the final 52 seconds to knot the score at 26-26 with a putback by junior Ethan Adamczyk (Uniontown, OH/Lake) at the buzzer tying the game.
In the final minute of the second half, it was defense that was the name of the game as Geneva clung to the 56-55 lead by shutting down Thiel for the final 35 seconds, holding the Tomcats without a shot.
Other than those final minutes, Thiel had the advantage, although very slight as the game was contested the whole way. There were 11 lead changes and nine ties.
“Our defensive effort was just phenomenal,” said Geneva coach Jeff Santarsiero. “Our last three stops were the best I’ve seen us play in years. We were making Thiel do things they didn’t want to do.
“It was a great win for us, it’s always great to start the conference 1-0 and Thiel is a talented team, they’ll be in the top half of the conference when it’s all over. Our defense was just a total team effort.”
While Geneva’s defense was putting forth a solid team effort, limiting Thiel to just 42 shots overall, the offense was more focused around one person – Adamczyk, who scored a season-high 23 points, the most by any Geneva men’s player this season.
“Ethan is playing at a whole different level than anyone else right now,” said Santarsiero. “His tip at the end of the first half was huge.”
Geneva’s conference season continues Saturday at 6:00 at St. Vincent.
Geneva College invites students to step forward and leap ahead with an academically excellent, Christ-centered and affordable education. Offering nearly 40 undergraduate majors, Adult Degree Programs with fully online and campus-based options, and high-demand advanced graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top 10 Best Value with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the inerrancy of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God’s word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today’s world.
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