BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Chatham Men's Basketball (20-4, 17-2 PAC) dropped their first game since Dec. 20, 2024 on Saturday afternoon at Geneva (12-11, 10-8) by an 87-80 scoreline.
 
Mark Rachic was Geneva's leading scorer with 23 points on 6-15 shooting. Rachic also pulled down 9 rebounds and had 3 assists. Ryan Rachic scored 21 points on 6-10 from the field and grabbed a game high 14 boards for the Golden Tornadoes. Trevor Tipton netted 16 points, KC Johns scored 11 points and had 3 assists, and Alec Srock had 10 points and 8 rebounds for Geneva, which shot 53.2 percent from the field and 50 percent from distance.
 
The Golden Tornadoes' hot start made all the difference in this one. Geneva stormed out to a 9-0 advantage early and took a 17-4 lead less than six minutes into the game. A Drew Vizenor bucket cut the Cougar deficit to 9 midway through the first half, but Geneva countered with a 7-0 run to push their advantage to 31-15. Chatham battled to make it a 7-point game on a Diaun Pinkett layup. The teams then traded baskets, with a Blaine Gartley layup making the score 35-28 in favor of the Golden Tornadoes with just under four minutes left until halftime. Geneva would go on a 6-0 run after that and led at 43-30 at the interval.
 
A Simon Boyer three-pointer opened up the scoring in the second half, but the Cougars would not get within single digits until there were less than two minutes to play. The Golden Tornadoes led by as many as 16 points with seven minutes remaining. Chatham went on a 6-0 run over the next minute, but Geneva continued to score from the free throw line and the Cougars found themselves trailing 81-70 with 1:09 remaining. A six-point possession courtesy of two three-pointers from Gartley and Boyer got Chatham within 5 with a minute left on the clock, but the Golden Tornadoes made six free throws to close out the game.
 
Boyer scored a game high 24 points for the Cougars on 9-18 shooting. Pinkett and Gartley each put up 15 points for Chatham, with Pinkett grabbing 6 boards and Gartley assisting on 3 Cougar baskets and getting a game high 7 steals. Lovenson Xavier scored 14 points and pulled down 6 rebounds for Chatham. The Cougars only turned the ball over seven times but shot just 42.1 percent from the charity stripe. The loss snapped a program-record 12-game win streak for Chatham.
 
The Cougars will take on Westminster in their final game of the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Athletic and Fitness Center with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m.