The Lake Forest College men's basketball team was defeated 98-92 by visiting Grinnell College on Saturday, ending the team's program record winning streak at 15 games. Six Foresters scored in double figures and senior post player Travis Clark finished just three assists shy of a triple-double.
Clark led all players in the game with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. He also recorded three steals and a pair of blocked shots.
Senior forward Nate Bateman was next on the Foresters with 14 points and junior point guard Jeff Beck, sophomore guard James Stack, and senior forward Dayton Young each finished with 13. Freshman guard Anthony Keener added a career-high 10 points.
Lake Forest shot 54.7 percent from the field but made just 17 of 30 free throws. Grinnell was 45.6 percent from the field and connected on 16 of 38 (42.1%) of attempts from beyond the arc and 20 of 28 foul shots. The Foresters out-rebounded their guests 42-34 but committed 17 turnovers to the Pioneers' 13.
Grinnell scored the game's first seven points but a 14-2 run by the Foresters put them ahead by five. That was the first of 12 lead changes in the opening half. The last was by the Pioneers, who extended their lead to as many as 10 points before taking a 56-51 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
The visitors continued to pull away in the second half and had an 18-point lead (85-67) with 9:39 to play. The Foresters chipped away and trimmed the margin to single digits on a pair of free throws by Bateman with 5:48 left. A, 8-1 run featuring a layup by Beck and three-pointers by Stack and Bateman made the score 89-86 with two minutes to play. Grinnell made a three-pointer with 1:29 to go but Stack answered with one of his own with 62 seconds left. The Pioneers made three of four free throws to regain their six-point lead, which was cut in half by Stack again with 13.3 seconds to play. The Foresters were unable to complete the comeback, however, as Grinnell made threemore free throws in the final 12 seconds to seal the victory.
Lake Forest is now 15-2 and the Pioneers 15-1 this season. Both teams are 11-1 in Midwest Conference play and tied for first place in the league standings. They will play again in in the regular season finale in Grinnell on Saturday, February 18.
The Foresters' next contest is a home game against Monmouth College Tuesday night at 7:30.
