The Lake Forest College men's basketball team won 60-57 at Beloit College on Sunday in the first Midwest Conference game of the season for any of the league's 10 members. Junior forward Nate Bateman's rebound and basket with 37 seconds left broke a tie and gave the Foresters the lead for good.
Bateman, who scored nine points, pulled down five rebounds, and added two steals in the contest, tied the game at 51 on a three-pointer with 7:14 to play. A layup by Forester junior post player Travis Clark evened the score at 53 and baskets by Lake Forest sophomore guard Jeff Beck tied it at 55 and 57. Bateman grabbed a defensive rebound with less than a minute remaining and then got the ball following a missed three-pointer by Beck before scoring the winning basket with 37 seconds left. Clark recorded his game-high 10th board and made one of two free throws with nine ticks left and Beloit missed a game-tying three-pointer in the closing seconds.
Clark also led all players in the game with 16 points for his second double-double of the season. He shot 5-for-8 from the field and 6-for-7 from the foul line and also chipped in with three assists. Beck finished with 13 points and junior guard Chris Roets matched Bateman with nine.
The Foresters shot 48 percent from the field in the game while limiting the Buccaneers to 37.3 percent shooting. Lake Forest had a 36-31 edge in rebounds but committed 13 of the game's 19 turnovers.
Beloit led by as many as seven points early in the game and the Foresters held an eight-point advantage in the second half before a 22-9 run by the Buccaneers.
Lake Forest is now 2-1 overall this season while the Bucs fell to 0-3. Lake Forest will continue league play this weekend, beginning with a 7:00 p.m. game at Carroll University on Friday. The Foresters will also play at Lawrence University at 4:00 the next afternoon.