The Lake Forest College men's basketball team was defeated 69-65 by Hope College Tuesday evening in the teams' first game at the RDV D3 Basketball Classic in Florida. Junior forward Nate Bateman led the Foresters with 19 points.
Bateman shot 6-for-11 from the field, 4-for-7 from three-point range, and 3-for-3 from the free throw line. He also pulled down three rebounds, dished out three assists, and added a blocked shot and a steal while turning the ball over just once.
Junior post player Travis Clark was next on the team with a dozen points and he chipped in with eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Junior forward Drew Grennell scored nine points and led the squad with 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Jeff Beck dished out a career-high eight assists.
The Foresters shot 52.2 percent from the field, made exactly half of their 22 attempts from beyond the arc, and knocked down six of nine free throws. However, the team committed 28 turnovers, nearly twice as many as Hope's 15. The Flying Dutch shot 44.2 percent from the floor, 2-of-9 from three-point range, and 21-of-28 from the foul line.
A 4-point lead was the largest for either team in a first half that included nine ties and 10 lead and ended with the Foresters ahead 40-36.
Lake Forest started the second half with an 13-5 run to extend the margin to a game-high 12 points. Hope trimmed the lead to just two points with roughly 10 minutes to play but a pair of free throws and a basket by Bateman increased it to six with 8:42 left. Hope then outscored the Foresters 8-0 over the next 6-plus minutes to take a 65-63 lead. Beck tied the score on a layup with with 2:18 remaining. Those were the final points of the contest for Lake Forest and the Flying Dutch knocked down four free throws in the final 20 seconds to win the game.
The Foresters will be back in action tomorrow evening at 5:30 (EST) against Trine University.