The Forester men's basketball team hosted and defeated Cornell College 82-70 on Saturday to remain in fourth place in the Midwest Conference standings. Sophomore guard Andrew Toth led Lake Forest with 22 points and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.
Toth shot 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-6 from three-point range. He also knocked down four free throws in the final minute to finish just one point shy of his career-high.
Forester senior forward Brian Madson was next on the team with 18 points and he pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for his second double-double in the last three games. Freshman guard Danny Nikitas added 15 points and led all players in the game with six assists. Sophomore forward Jim Schick finished with 11 points and seven boards.
The Foresters made at least half of their field goal attempts for the sixth time this season, finishing at 54.7 percent on Saturday. They also connected on six of 13 three-pointers and 18 of 22 foul shots. Cornell shot 40.4 percent from the floor but made just three of 20 attempts from beyond the arc and 25 of 38 free throws. Lake Forest had a 36-30 edge in rebounds but committed 16 turnovers while forcing 13.
A slow start for the Foresters saw them down eight points at the midpoint of the first half. The home team rattled off 12 straight points, however, to continue the back-and-forth period that included seven ties and eight lead changes. A rebound and put-back by Lake Forest junior guard Austin Terry just beat the buzzer and gave the home team a 36-34 lead at halftime.
Lake Forest gradually pulled away in the second half. The lead reached double figures on a three-pointer by Nikitas with 13:11 remaining and was never less than six the rest of the way. The Foresters connected on 11 of 14 free throws in the final two minutes to keep the Rams from mounting a comeback.
The Foresters evened their overall record on the season at 8-8 and improved to 7-5 in MWC play. Cornell fell to 5-12 overall and 4-8 in the league.
Lake Forest will play at Lawrence University next Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
