The Forester men's basketball team won 71-63 at Knox College on
Saturday (February 13) to clinch a spot in the four-team Midwest
Conference Tournament at St. Norbert College in two weekends. Lake
Forest is now 12-9 overall on the season and tied for second in the
league standings with a 10-4 mark in conference play. The Prairie
Fire fell to 2-19 overall and 2-12 in the MWC.
Sophomore post player Travis Clark
(Evanston, Ill./Evanston) scored a game-high 24 points and led the
Foresters with seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Chris Roets
(Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) and sophomore forward Nate Bateman
(Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest Academy) also reached double figures
with 11 and 10 points, respectively, and both players knocked down
a pair of three-pointers. Senior forward Patrick Hanley
(Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) pulled down five rebounds and dished
out a team-high six assists.
The Foresters shot 54.8 percent from the field and made 20 of 27
free throws in the game. Lake Forest held Knox 43.6 percent
shooting from the field and out-rebounded the home team 32-22.
The game was tied at 12 when the Foresters began a 20-2 run that
put the visitors ahead by a game-high 18 points with 4:40 to play
in the first half. The Prairie Fire closed out the period on a 10-2
run and trailed 44-34 at halftime.
Knox gradually chipped away at the deficit and trimmed the margin
to a single point (59-58) with 3:42 to play. A basket by Forester
senior guard Victor
Campbell (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) put the visitors
back ahead by three and he made four of the team's 10 free throws
in the game's final 67 seconds as Lake Forest secured the
victory.
The Foresters will play at Monmouth College Tuesday night (February
16) at 7:30 before closing out the regular season at home against
Illinois College on Saturday (February 20). Live video webcasts of
both games will be available at
pennatlantic.com.