BUTLER TWP — Forget about points.

Joel Stutz is only interested in compiling wins.

The 2017 Butler graduate and Butler County Community College men's basketball career scoring leader recently completed his first season at Geneva College. He helped the Golden Tornadoes reach the Presidents' Athletic Conference title game for the first time in program history.

It wasn't enough.

Geneva's PAC title game loss to Grove City was the same night as Butler's WPIAL title game win over Mt. Lebanon.

“Our game was done and I got to listen to the last part of the Butler game,” Stutz said. “I was upset we lost, but it was nice to hear Butler win.

“It felt good to get there (PAC final), but I want to win the championship,” the junior guard-forward said. “We had a .500 season. I feel like we lost more games than we should have. I hate losing.”

It's that attitude that attracted Geneva coach Jeff Santarsiero to Stutz — and his twin brother Jace — in the first place.

But by the time Santarsiero got heavily involved in the recruiting process with the Stutz twins, they had committed to BC3 and coach Dick Hartung.

“They are guys of integrity and they weren't gonna back off that commitment,” Santarsiero said. “I respected and appreciated that.

“I know Coach Hartung well. We're good friends. I knew they would do well there.”

He had no idea how well.

Joel Stutz led all of the NJCAA in scoring his sophomore year with the Pioneers, averaging 30 points per game. He scored 779 points that season and graduated as the Pioneers' all-time leading scorer with 1,366 points.

Jace played point guard, averaged 16.8 points per game and set a BC3 record by taking 56 charges in his career. The two played key roles in the Pioneers winning the WPCC championship in 2019.

“I saw a piece of paper on my desk with their phone numbers. It was sitting in the exact same spot I put it two years ago,” Santarsiero said. “I still had interest in both boys.

“When I discovered the numbers the were putting up, I figured they had a few (four-year school) offers in place. When their father told me they had none, we set up a visit.”

Jace decided to attend Slippery Rock University and not play basketball. Joel headed to Geneva.

Santarsiero left the door open for Jace, “should he get the itch to play again,” the coach said.

“He had tendinitis in a foot, his knees were sore ... He was tired of being hurt,” Joel said of his brother. “He was done.

“We had four guys injured during this season and Coach asked me about Jace coming in,” Stutz said, laughing. “He still wants him. But he likes it over at SRU.

“We both liked Geneva's situation when we were coming out of high school. It was just too late into the summer when their offer came,” he added.

The Stutz twins had been teammates on the court since grade school. Joel admitted it was strange not having his brother as a teammate this year.

“It was weird, actually,” he said. “The whole situation was. I was playing baskeball with a bunch of guys I didn't know, had never played with before. It took a while to mesh.”

Stutz wound up starting 22 of 28 games for the Golden Tornadoes. He averaged 8.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. He was second on the team with 54 treys.

“Joel hit a dreadful shooting slump for a while,” Santarsiero said. “But he helped us in so many other ways. He was very good on defense. He took charges. He got dirty on the floor.

“He doesn't make many mistakes and he plays so hard. Those are the reasons we wanted him in the first place.”

Stutz's offense heated up late. He reached double figures in each of his last five games, including a team-leading 20 points in the Golden Tornadoes' 91-63 upset of second-seeded Chatham in the PAC semifinals.

Stutz had nine rebounds against Franciscan, five assists against La Roche, three steals against Washington & Jefferson, five treys against Valley Forge and Waynesburg.

“He helped us in so many different ways,” Santarsiero said.

Geneva finished the season 14-14 overall, 8-8 in PAC play. Now the team graduates three key starters: All-American Ethan Moose (16.5 ppg.), Noah Damazo (11.9) and Nick Rusyn (9.8).

“We've got talent coming back and hopefully the freshmen will help us out,” Stutz said. “I'm confident we can win, make another run at it.”

Wins are what it's all about, after all.