MEADVILLE, Pa. -- The Allegheny College men's basketball team wasn't able to build off of a one-point halftime lead on Wednesday night and dropped a 65-48 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) contest to Geneva College inside the David V. Wise Center.

The Golden Tornadoes (2-4, 2-1 PAC) opened the game with 3-pointers on their first three possessions and jumped ahead 9-0. Allegheny (1-5, 0-3 PAC) responded with an 11-2 run fueled by five points from Isaiah Portis (Medina, Ohio/Norwayne). A steal by Jayson Perry (Tampa, Fla./Sickles) led to a transition bucket from Portis that tied the score at 11-all.

After the first media timeout, a Luke Barker (New Castle, Pa./Struthers (Ohio)) layup gave the Gators their first lead of the contest at 13-11. After Geneva tied it back up at 13, back-to-back treys by James Sitter (Erie, Pa./Fairview) and Barker pushed Allegheny to 19-13. The back-and-forth continued as Geneva would tie the game at 22 points with just over seven minutes to go in the opening half. 

In the final minutes of the half, the Gators gained a five-point lead, 27-22, after a jumper by Tanner Miller (Elkins, W. Va./Elkins) followed up by a Jeremy Burda (Johnstown, Pa./Forest Hills) 3-pointer. The Golden Tornadoes regained the lead after a 6-0 run, but the final basket of the half belonged to Sitter, giving Allegheny a 29-28 lead at the half.

Geneva opened the second half with a 12-0 run and didn't look back. Allegheny went nearly four-and-a-half minutes without a point until a Ryan Lang (Sarver, Pa./Knoch) free throw ended the scoring drought. But points in the second half were hard to come by, as Geneva's defense stifled the Gator offense. Allegheny scored only 19 points in the final 20 minutes while shooting just 25.0% (7-of-28).

Inside the Box Score

• Allegheny won the first half and led by one at the break, but Geneva outscored the Gators 37-19 in the second stanza.
• After shooting 40.0% (12-of-30) in the first half, the Gators made only seven of their 28 field goals (25.0%) in the second half.
• Geneva shot 50.9% for the contest with 28 makes on 55 attempts.
• Despite being a low-scoring game, it wasn't a physical matchup, as the two teams combined for only 11 fouls.
• Turnovers were even at nine apiece, but the Gators finished with a slight advantage in points of turnovers at 10-8.
• Lang netted a team-leading 12 points.
• Sitter and Perry each scored eight points with five rebounds.
• Barker scored seven points with three assists, two rebounds, and one steal.
• Portis added six points and hauled in a team-high six rebounds.
• Ryan Rachic (16), KC Johns (14), and Mark Rachic (12) each scored in double figures for Geneva.

News and Notes

• Allegheny owns a 5-5 record in its last 10 meetings with Geneva.
• Lang scored double-digit points for the third time in his last four games.
• Sitter has made multiple 3-pointers in five of six games this season.
• First-year guard Coleman Miller (Altamonte Springs, Fla./Lyman) earned one rebound and one steal in his season debut off the bench.
• The Gators were charged with only five fouls against the Golden Tornadoes, the fewest in a game by Allegheny in more than 25 years.

Up Next
Allegheny travels to Waynesburg University on Saturday, December 7, at 3:00 p.m. for a PAC showdown.