The Forester men's basketball team was defeated 74-73 at Illinois College on Saturday. Senior guard Jeff Beck led all players in the contest with 29 points.
Beck shot 11-for-22 from the field in the contest but 7-for-10 during a 17-point second half. He also finished the game with five rebounds and a game-high five assists.
Forester sophomore forward Brian Madson was next on the team with 16 points. He shot 5-for-9 from the field, 3-for-5 from three-point range, and 3-for-3 from the foul line. Junior forward Bledi Dervishi chipped in with a career-high 14 points and he also added five boards. Senior forward Chris Madson led the visitors with six rebounds.
Lake Forest shot 43.3 percent from the floor while the Blueboys connected on 56.3 percent of their field goal attempts. Both teams took eight shots from beyond the arc with the Foresters making six and Illinois College eight. The home team had a slight 33-31 edge in rebounds but committed 13 turnovers to Lake Forest's six.
An 11-0 Blueboy run late in the first half gave the home team a 14-point lead and the Foresters trailed 42-31 at halftime.
Lake Forest trimmed the deficit to seven points early in the second half but Illinois College built it back up to 13. The difference was 11 with four-and-a-half minutes to play before a basket by Brian Madson and three-pointers by Beck and Brian Madson made the score 70-67 with 2:42 remaining. The Blueboys went back up by six before a basket and a three-pointer by Beck made it a one-point game with 30 seconds on the clock. A missed fre throw by the home team with 18 seconds on the clock gave th Foresters a chance to win but a blocked shot was tipped in just after the final buzzer, preserving the Illinois College win.
The Foresters fell to 1-4 overall this season and 1-2 in Midwest Conference play while the Blueboys raised their overall record to 2-4 and league mark to 1-2.
Lake Forest will travel to conference rival St. Norbert College Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.