Second Half Spurt Leads Geneva Past Waynesburg

Waynesburg, PA – It is never easy to win on the road in college basketball. On Wednesday night, the Golden Tornadoes stormed out of the second half locker room and turned a small deficit into a convincing 81-66 victory at Waynesburg University. Geneva pushed its overall record to 12-4 including three straight victories and wins in six of the last seven games. Geneva’s start matches the second best for the Golden Tornadoes since Jeff Santarsiero took over as head coach in 1996.

Geneva trailed the Yellow Jackets 44-43 at halftime after having seen an early five point lead disappear. In fact, Waynesburg led by as many as six points in the first half. The second half began with both teams trading baskets until the Yellow Jackets took a 56-55 lead with just over 13 minutes left to go. The Golden Tornadoes took their first lead of the half at 58-56 on Drew Santarsiero’s three-point field goal at the 12:06 mark. With Geneva leading 60-58 and 11:18 on the game clock, the Golden Tornadoes took over control of the game by scoring 17 of the next 19 points over a ten minute stretch. Geneva turned a two-point lead into a convincing 77-60 advantage with under two minutes to play. “It was again our defense that gave us a spark,” said Santarsiero. “We were knocking down shots in the first half, but we were allowing them to match us shot for shot. In the second half we were able to keep them down offensive especially in the last ten minutes of the game.” Geneva held Waynesburg to just eight points in the final 11 minutes of the game to seize control.

Bryan Hill, who scored 27 points in the first meeting between the two schools, caught fire in the first half knocking down five three-point field goals and taking 17 points into the locker room. Hill didn’t score in the second half but finished with a team best 17 points. Richard Colick scored 12 points and added eight rebounds. Lambros Svingos was Geneva’s only other double digit scorer with ten in the game. The Geneva College bench accounted for 32 of Geneva’s 81 points in the game. “We rely heavily on our bench,” said Santarsiero. “We look for them to give us a spark usually on the defensive end of the court but tonight some of those guys really chipped in with some big baskets.”

The Golden Tornadoes will travel to Washington & Jefferson on Saturday afternoon before returning home to face Thiel College at Metheny Fieldhouse next Wednesday 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. Geneva is a founding member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).