WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College men's basketball team used a 19-2 second-half run to turn a one-point game into a rout as the Presidents defeated Geneva 73-58 for their first Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) win at the Salvitti Family Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
 
W&J (6-3, 1-1 PAC) held the Golden Tornadoes to a season-low 58 points. The Golden Tornadoes entered the contest with the second-highest scoring offense in the PAC at 74 points per game.
 
W&J owned a 33-32 halftime lead, and after the first six-plus minutes of the second half, the Golden Tornadoes remained close behind 42-41. The Presidents took control by scoring 19 of the game's next 21 points over a seven-minute span.
 
Freshman Kyran Mitchell (Reading, Pa./Berks Catholic) found Jonathan DeVito (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) for a three-pointer to begin the run and push the Presidents' lead to four.
 
Alexander Skowron (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) rattled off five-straight points with a free throw, a jumper from AJ Blue (Kensington, Md./Sidwell Friends (D.C.)) and a layup from Mitchell. Following a Geneva basket, Mitchell put the Presidents up double-digits with his first collegiate three-pointer, as the Presidents led 53-43 with 9:46 to play.
 
A layup from Zach Queen (Jeannette, Pa./Hempfield Area) and three from DeVito, including a coast-to-coast steal and lay-in to punctuate the run put the Presidents ahead 61-43 with 6:48 remaining.
 
Geneva connected on four quick three-pointers to trim the deficit to 68-58 with 2:57 left, but the Presidents responded with baskets from Cameron Seemann (Loveland, Ohio/Archbishop Moeller) and Primo Zini (Morgantown, W.Va./Trinity Christian), and the Red and Black held Geneva off the scoreboard the rest of the way.
 
Two threes by Queen powered the Presidents to an early 12-4 advantage in the game's first five minutes. W&J maintained an eight-point margin at 16-8 and 18-10 before Geneva reeled off five straight points to pull within a possession at 18-15.
 
A Skowron jumper and threes from Blue, Davenport and Queen keyed an 11-2 spurt for W&J to hand the Presidents their largest lead of the half at 29-17 with 7:22 to play.
 
Geneva battled back with a 10-1 run of its own, capitalizing on second-chance opportunities and scoring four points from the free throw line, to pull back within three at 30-27.
 
DeVito knocked down a three with 2:30 to play in the first half to push the Presidents back up six, but Geneva's Noah Damanzo put in a three-point play and a jumper in the final minute to trim the Presidents lead to 33-32 at halftime.
 
Queen matched a season-high with 15 points, including four made threes. Skowron recorded a career-high 11 points and seven rebounds.

DeVito had a dozen points, four rebounds, four assists, four blocks and two steals. Zini notched 10 points and five rebounds and spent most of the game hounding Geneva's top scorer Ethan Moose, holding Moose to six points on 2-of-10 shooting.
 
Mitchell had three points, three assists and two rebounds in 12 minutes of work and the Presidents outscored Geneva by 22 points when he was on the floor.
 
The Presidents only turned the ball over nine time and scored 19 points off 14 Geneva turnovers. The President defense registered seven blocks and six steals.
 
W&J returns to action on Dec. 18 when the Presidents host Chatham at 8:00 p.m.