The Lake Forest College men's basketball team was defeated 77-70 by visiting Carroll University in the semifinals of the Midwest Conference Tournament. Forester senior forward Nate Bateman recorded a double-double in the contest with 21 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Bateman also chipped in with three assists in the contest, one shy of the team lead shared by junior points guard Jeff Beck and senior post player Travis Clark. Beck scored eight points in 38 minutes of play and Clark shot 12-for-14 from the field and led all players in the contest with 26 points. He also pulled down six rebounds and had a pair of blocked shots.
Lake Forest shot 43.5 percent from the floor but just 7-for-29 from three-point range and 3-for-5 from the free throw line. Carroll made 47.2 percent of its field goal attempts, including 10 of 20 three-pointers, and 17 of 22 foul shots. The Foresters had a 38-33 edge in rebounds and committed 10 of the game's 19 turnovers.
The Pioneers never trailed in the first half. They used a 12-2 run late in the period to extend their lead to 13 points with a minute remaining before halftime, which arrived with the visitors ahead 40-30.
The margin grew to as many as 16 points early in the second half and was 15 (54-39) before a 22-6 run by the Foresters gave them their first and only lead of the contest at 61-60 with five-and-a-half minutes to play. Carroll, however, scored the next seven points to pull back ahead by six. Baskets by Clark cut the deficit to four on three separate occasions and a three-pointer by Bateman with 33 seconds left made it a three-point game at 73-70 but the Pioneers made four free throws to close out the victory.
The Foresters fell to 20-4 on the season and will wait until Monday to find out if that record is good enough to get them into their first NCAA Tournament.
Carroll is now 15-9 on the year and advances to tomorrow's 3:00 tournament final against St. Norbert College, which defeated Grinnell College 103-83 in Friday night's other semifinal. The winner will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
