Beaver Falls, PA – Geneva′s men′s basketball team successfully completed the first half of its weekend′s double dip on Friday. On Saturday afternoon, the Golden Tornadoes could not complete the New York sweep as Roberts Wesleyan snuck out of Metheny Fieldhouse with a 65-64 victory. The loss dropped Geneva to 9-11 overall, including a 1-3 record in the AMC North.
“We are disappointed in the loss, but I was pleased with the effort,” said head coach Jeff Santarsiero. “We put ourselves in position to have a very productive weekend, but we came up on the short end. We will keep working to get this thing turned in the right direction.”
Santarsiero′s team came out quickly and opened up an eight-point lead at 19-11 midway through the first half. By halftime, Roberts Wesleyan had closed the gap, but Geneva still held a 33-29 lead at the break. RWC took its first lead of the second half at the 16:18 mark to trigger the first of 11 lead changes the rest of the game. Geneva upped its lead to as many as six points at 49-43 with 11:34 to play on a Jermaine Ferguson field goal, but Roberts Wesleyan scored seven of the next eight points to tie the score at 50 each.
Roberts Wesleyan took a five-point lead into the final minute of the game and a Justin Nardi three-point field goal with just over two seconds in regulation pulled the Golden Tornadoes to one. After a missed free throw, Geneva′s desperation try failed at the buzzer and the Golden Tornadoes suffered their fourth loss in five games.
Ferguson led Geneva with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Justin Nardi and Kyle McDermott each chipped in with 11 points in the loss.
Geneva will get another shot at 3rd ranked and undefeated Point Park next Thursday before returning to Metheny Fieldhouse next Saturday for a 3:00 pm non-conference game against Franciscan University.
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