Chicago, IL – In a game that could have gone in either direction, Geneva′s men′s basketball team kept things from going south in a 70-52 victory over East-West University, IL. One night after struggling through an 84-69 loss to Purdue North-Central, the Golden Tornadoes rebounded to move their early season record to 2-1.

One of the major keys for the victory was the work of Geneva′s bench. Senior Jermaine Ferguson came off the bench to score ten points and added ten rebounds in the victory. Freshman Matt Blocki added eight points off the bench to help Geneva′s cause. While the reserves chipped in, it was the play of junior Zac Northen that had his coach talking after the game. Northen scored 15 points and added 12 rebounds to lead Geneva to its second victory of the season. “Zac was special tonight,” said head coach Jeff Santarsiero. “He showed the type of player he can be by doing all the little things correctly to help give our team a chance to win. This was a great team victory against a very athletic and solid team from inner-city Chicago. I was very pleased with how our guys responded after a tough night on Friday.”

Kyle McDermott added 13 points as one of three Geneva players to reach double figures in the victory.

Although Geneva finished strong, things did not look good for the Golden Tornadoes early on in the first half. East-West jumped out to a 16-9 advantage, but Geneva closed the first half on a 28-9 run which helped the G-T′s extend their lead to 48-34 after 20 minutes of play.

Geneva will return home next week for the home opener next Saturday night. The Golden Tornadoes will welcome Ohio University-Eastern to Metheny Fieldhouse, before traveling to Penn State Beaver on November 21^st.