Presidents Fall At Geneva 81-74
BEAVER FALLS, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson men's basketball team was downed by Geneva 81-74 on Saturday afternoon in Beaver Falls.
The Presidents lost for the third time in the past four games, dropping their record to 6-10 (2-5 PAC). The Golden Tornadoes are now 4-11 overall and 3-4 in PAC play.
Trailing 49-41 midway through the second half, W&J strung together an 11-1 run to take its first lead since the game's opening minutes. Freshman guard Andy Carter (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) evened the game at 50 and then gave W&J a two-point edge with a pair of free throws.
The Golden Tornadoes responded immediately with a 9-2 spurt to regain the lead, capped off by a Lambros Svignos layup. Geneva would never relinquish that lead.
Junior Zach Bellhy (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) sank a pair of free throws to cut the Geneva advantage to four points with just over a minute remaining, but the Presidents would get no closer. The Golden Tornadoes sank 11-of-12 free throws during the final 60 seconds to hold W&J at bay.
The Presidents were defeated despite shooting 49 percent (25-51) from the field and hitting on 18-of-20 (.900) attempts from the charity stripe.
Bellhy led W&J with 17 points, while Carter added 16 markers and a team-high five rebounds. Freshman Mike Resnik (White Oak, Pa./McKeesport) came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
Geneva connected on 47 percent (26-55) of its field goal attempts led by Matt Phillips, who tallied 24 points. Matt Lorello made all nine of his shots en route to 19 points, while Svingos added 14 points.
W&J returns to the Henry Memorial Center on Wednesday to face conference-rival Waynesburg at 8:00 pm.
