Pittsburgh, PA - It wasn′t a long trip for the Geneva College men′s basketball team on Saturday but it was its first trip of the season. After opening the season with three straight victories at home, the Golden Tornadoes dropped an 83-78 decision to LaRoche College in the first game of the season away from Metheny Fieldhouse. The loss dropped Geneva to 3-1 and kept the Golden Tornadoes from their first 4-0 start since 1997.
Offense in the first half was clearly not the issue as the Golden Tornadoes shot 58% from the field in the first 20 minutes but still were looking up at a 43-38 LaRoche lead. The Redhawks continued their hot shooting into the second half as Geneva cooled off from the field. LaRoche shot 54% from the field for the game including nine three-point field goals. Geneva was 5-13 from long distance despite a scoreless night from its biggest three-point threat in Bryan Hill. Richard Colick again led Geneva′s attack with 26 points including an 11-13 afternoon from the foul line.
Geneva never led in the second half and trailed by as many as 15 points at 61-46 with 14:25 remaining in the game. The Golden Tornadoes managed to trim the lead down to three points at 73-70 on a Colick jumper with 4:11 to play. LaRoche scored six of the next eight points to extend the lead to six and never looked back. "When you don′t get stops at the end of games, you can′t win on the road," said head coach Jeff Santarsiero. "We worked so hard to get back into the game but our defense let us down. We simply can′t give up 83 points and expect to win."
Lambros Svingos did his part for Geneva with 17 points and seven rebounds in the loss. Svingos was 8-14 from the field. All five starters for LaRoche reached double figures with Mike Dixon leading the way with 20 points on 7-10 shooting from the field.
Geneva will open play against the Presidents′ Athletic Conference on Wednesday night when Washington & Jefferson visits Metheny Fieldhouse for a 7:30 pm tip-off.
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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