The Geneseo men's basketball team finished 2-1 at the Wendy's Classic Tournament with a dominant performance over Roberts Wesleyan College last Saturday. The game was never in doubt, as Geneseo was up 44-33 at the half and from there the Blue Knights cruised to an 89-60 win.
Four players achieved double-digit point totals; sophomore Ryan Riefenhauser had 11 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, and junior Ethan Estabrooks scored 14 points.
The Knights' week had originally started off on the wrong foot, however, as the team lost its first game of the season to Hobart College on Dec. 1.
"I don't think we played great or poor," said head coach Steve Minton. "We played hard, but missed layups. We have to take advantages of our opportunities."
The most entertaining game of the week came on Friday, Dec. 4 in a 65-61 win over St. John Fisher College. "We came out very flat," Minton said. "We shot pretty well in the first half, but we didn't have much energy until the four minute mark in the first half."
The second half saw a totally different team as the Knights pulled away toward the end of the game.
With 18 seconds left, Geneseo was up by six as St. John Fisher took the ball down the court. Fisher freshman Casey Courneen took a desperate three-pointer, made it and was fouled. He made the free throw to cut Geneseo's lead to just two, and just like that the outcome came into question. Senior Nate Cornish made two free throws down the stretch and the Blue Knights were able to turn a hard-fought win.
Unfortunately, the Knights were unable to close out the semester with a win against SUNY Brockport on Tuesday. The match was back-and-forth and ultimately came down to the final seconds. Freshman Lamont Stokes cut Brockport's lead to 58-59 with 45 seconds left, but Geneseo couldn't close out on the win.
The Knights are now 5-2 as they break for the semester. The team gets back in action on Jan. 3 when it travels to D'Youville College.