Men’s Basketball concludes Coaches vs. Cancer Classic with loss to host Geneva

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. --- Carlow University men's basketball concluded its two-day Coaches vs. Cancer Classic with an 82-68 loss to host Geneva College Saturday.

Junior Clayton Cook (Brookville, Pa./Brookville Area HS) was named to the all-tournament team.

Tomasi Pavihi (Wellington, New Zealand/St. Mary's Ryken HS/College of Marin) led the Celtics with 18 points, and Jimmy Giannetta (Pittsburgh, Pa./Saint Joseph HS) added 15 points and three assists. Jordyn Tavarez (New Kensington, Pa./Highlands HS/Penn West Calif.) went 5 for 5 from the foul line and scored 11 points off the bench, and Aleel Batts (Middletown, Pa./Middletown Area HS) dished out four assists in the effort.

Carlow kept it close throughout the first half, battling back from an early deficit to trail by two after Noah Kaniki (London, Ontario, Canada/The Kiski School) hit a three-pointer with 6:12 remaining in the half. Back-to-back buckets from Giannetta tied the game at 27-all, but the Golden Tornadoes (1-1) began to pull away. A last-second tip-in gave the home team an eight-point lead at the half.

A 10-3 run to start the second half put Geneva up 15. Minutes later, the Celtics strung together a 15-4 run of their own that spanned over five minutes to cut Geneva's lead to three.

The Golden Tornadoes quickly pushed the advantage back to double digits and kept Carlow at arms' length the remainder of the game.

The Celtics shot 72.7 percent (16 for 22) from the foul line and outscored Geneva 19-15 off the bench. The Golden Tornadoes outrebounded Carlow 39-25 and shot 53.3 percent (32 for 60) from the field.

Trey Barker led Geneva with a game-high 19 points, and three other players contributed double figure scoring in the win.

The Celtics travel to Penn State Beaver for a 7 p.m. game Nov. 19.