The Lake Forest College men's basketball team matched the second-longest winning streak in program history Friday night by prevailing 84-75 at Ripon College. All five Forester starters scored at least 10 points and senior post player Travis Clark recorded his seventh double-double of the season.
Clark scored 17 points and pulled down a dozen rebounds in the contest. He shot 7-for-12 from the field and added two steals and a team-high five assists.
Senior forward Nate Bateman led the Forester with 18 points and chipped in with three rebounds, three assists, and a pair of blocked shots. Bateman shot 6-for-9 from the field, 3-for-6 from three-point range, and 3-for-3 from the free throw line.
Junior point guard Jeff Beck was next on the team with 16 points, senior forward Drew Grennell matched his season-high with 12, and sophomore guard James Stack added 10. Beck matched Clark's 7-for-12 shooting performance from the floor and Grennell was 5-for-6.
Lake Forest shot 50.8 percent from the field but made just seven of 22 three-pointers and 11 of 16 foul shots. It marked the fifth time in the Foresters' last eight games that they were successful on at least half of their field goal attempts. Ripon shot 46.2 percent from the floor and made 12 of 21 shots from beyond the arc and 15 of 20 from the line. The Foresters had a commanding 37-26 edge in rebounds and one fewer turnover (11-12) than the Red Hawks.
The Foresters trailed by as many as seven points early in the game but outscored the home team 20-10 over the final five minutes of the opening period to take a 40-35 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Ripon trimmed the margin to one point twice early in the second half and trailed by just two (69-67) after a free throw with 5:28 to play in the contest. Lake Forest then scored 13 of the game's next 15 points, including eight by Clark, to pull away and secure the victory.
Lake Forest is now 11-1 overall this season and still perfect in Midwest Conference play with a 7-0 mark in the league. The Red Hawks fell to 8-4 overall and 4-3 in the MWC.
The Foresters will continue their weekend in Wisconsin with a 4:00 p.m. game at Beloit College on Saturday.
