Top-seeded Grove City College led wire-to-wire Saturday night in an 86-70 victory over No. 5 Geneva College in the title game of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Basketball Championship Tournament. Grove City (20-8) won its eighth PAC title and first since 2009-10. Saturday was just the second all-time meeting between the longstanding rivals. No. 2 Grove City posted an 81-75 win over No. Geneva in last year's quarterfinal round. Saturday was the first-ever championship tournament title game appearance for Geneva (14-14). Grove City will receive the league's automatic qualifying bid to this year's Division III Championship Tournament. Forty-three conferences have been granted automatic qualification to this year's 64-team championship. The selected Division III Championship teams as well as the first and second round site selections will be announced Monday, March 2 at 12:30 p.m. (EST) on ncaa.com. First and second round games are scheduled for Friday-Saturday, March 6-7.
Grove City senior guard Nate Peters (6'0''-PG) (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio | Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy), named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, led the way in Saturday's win with a season-high 28 points ... He finished 12-of-18 from the field ... Senior forward James Wells (6'7''-F) (Waterville, Vt. | Worcester Academy) added 18 points and six rebounds ... Freshman forward Joshua Bryan (6'5''-F) (Salem, Va. | Salem) went 3-of-3 from the field and finished with 11 points in 17 minutes ... He also added seven rebounds ... Geneva senior forward Ethan Moose (6'4''-G/F) (New Castle, Pa. | Neshannock) led four players in double figures with 20 points and six rebounds ... Sophomore guard Matt Veynovich (G) (Pompano Beach, Fla. | Highlands Academy) had 14 points ... Junior guard Joel Stutz (6'1''-G) (Evans City, Pa. | Butler) and senior forward Nick Rusyn (Salem, Ohio | Salem) added 11 and 10 points, respectively ... A Moose bucket with 10:56 remaining in the first half cut Grove City's lead to three (23-20), but the Wolverines outscored the Golden Tornadoes 20-5 over the next 7:28 and went into the break leading by 13 (48-35) ... Moose's jumper with under 11 minutes remaining in the second trimmed the Grove City lead to one (60-59) before the No. 1 seed strung together seven-straight points to go up eight (67-59) with 8:29 to play ... Peters closed out the game by scoring seven of Grove City's final nine points ... Peters averaged 17.5 points against Geneva in the two regular season meetings, including a 26-point effort in the Wolverine's 76-71 win in Beaver Falls on Feb. 8 ... Grove City will be making its sixth appearance in the Division III Championship Tournament.
PAC Tournament Final: Grove City - Geneva 86-70 PAC Tournament Semifinals: Grove City - Saint Vincent 70-69 Geneva - Chatham 91-63
All-Tournament MVP: Nate Peters (6'0''-PG) of Grove City Player of the Year: Dylan O'Hara (6'3''-G) of Westminster, PA Newcomer of the Year: Marcos Cintron (5'11''-PG) of Chatham Coach of the Year: Steve Lamie of Grove City
Lamie
