Berea, OH - Another slow start for the Geneva College men′s basketball team on Monday night proved to be the difference in an 88-76 loss to Baldwin-Wallace. The Golden Tornadoes dropped to 1-2 on the season while Baldwin-Wallace picked up its first victory of the season and improved to 1-2 on the young season. The Golden Tornadoes outscored the Jackets 44-38 in the second half but fell behind by 18 points after the first 20 minutes and were not able to fully recover.
Geneva fell behind by as many as 21 points early in the second half, but put together a frantic comeback that cut the lead all the way down to three points at 74-71 with 4:45 to play. Rich Colick, who scored 22 points on the night, completed a three point play that drew Geneva to within three points but the Golden Tornadoes could not draw any closer. Down the stretch, Baldwin-Wallace pulled away for a 12 point victory. Colick was joined by Lambros Svingos with 20 points at the top of the score sheet for the Golden Tornadoes. Svingos only played six minutes in the first half because of foul trouble but made up for lost time in the second half with 14 of his 16 points. Bryan Hill knocked in four three-point field goals for 12 points and David Phillips added ten in the loss.
Brandon Harvey′s three-point play in the first minute of the game gave the Golden Tornadoes an early lead before the Jackets ran off a 10-0 run to stretch the lead to 12-3. Geneva then countered with a 15-2 run of its own and opened up its biggest lead of the game at 18-14. The first half of runs continued as Baldwin-Wallace responded with 12 straight points and grabbed a lead it would never relinquish. The first half featured a Baldwin-Wallace team that shot 64% from the field, including an 8-12 effort from three-point range. "We couldn′t come up with a defensive answer against some very hot shooters in the first half," said head coach Jeff Santarsiero. "We knew we had a run in us and we did all we could to get back in the game, but we came up short."
The Golden Tornadoes kept themselves in the game from the foul line by going 14-15 from the stripe including a perfect 6-6 effort from Rich Colick. Colick is now a perfect 23-23 from the foul line to start the season.
It doesn′t get any easier for the Golden Tornadoes as they will travel to Division I Youngstown State on Tuesday night to take on the Penguins and former Geneva head coach Jerry Slocum. It is the first trip to Youngstown State since 1971 but the second contest against a Division I program in the last three years. Geneva visited Cleveland State back in 2007. The Golden Tornadoes return to Metheny Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon to host LaRoche College. "It will be a difficult turnaround to head to Youngstown tomorrow night but we are looking forward to the challenge," said Santarsiero.
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).
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