Beaver Falls, PA – Men’s basketball hosted the Thomas More Saints on Saturday, February 4. The Saints came marching in and left Geneva with a
Ethan Moose (New Castle, PA/Neshannock) started the game on fire with a good jumper and one, handing the Golden Tornadoes the early lead at 5-3 (17:55). Jimmy Leichliter (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville) kept the advantage with a good three ball at 16:58 (8-5). Geneva couldn’t hold onto the lead long as Thomas More tied it up at 14-14 (11:50) and took the lead a minute later, 15-14.
David Oliver (Sewickley, PA/Quaker Valley) sunk a three-pointer set up from Leichliter bringing the game to 20-19 at 5:02 left in the first half. At 4:08, Joey Jou (Miami, FL/Westwood Christian) worked the inside for a good layup (22-21). The tight game didn’t last into the halftime break as the Saints tallied a six-point run and later added a buzzer beater three-pointer. Geneva entered the second half down by nine at 33-24. A bright spot for Geneva was outrebounding the Saints 23-15.
Geneva offense struggled to tally points early in the second and lost their rebound edge over the visitors. Tyler Crenshaw (Moon Twp., PA/Moon/Mt. Aloysius) sunk a three at 13:53 bringing the scoreboard to Thomas More 47, Geneva 35.
Leichliter drew two fouls going 1-1 at the line at each appearance and recorded a bucket for a ten-point game, 50-40 at 12:42. Despite efforts, Geneva couldn’t close the
At 7:07, Leichliter’s deep three brought the game to 61-47. Thomas More’s
Leichliter topped Geneva’s scoring charts with 17 points supported by Crenshaw with 11 and Noah Damazo (Beaver Falls, PA/Blackhawk) with a slick 10 points. Off the glass, Leichliter and Moose led the Golden Tornadoes with eight rebounds apiece. Moose finished the game with nine points.
Next week, the Golden Tornadoes