Lake Forest College freshman forward Danny Sotos was 6-for-7 from three-point range and scored a game-high 25 points as the Forester men's basketball team prevailed 86-72 at Beloit College on Wednesday.
Sotos was not the only efficient Forester at the offensive end of the court as the team's .612 field goal percentage was the program's highest since making 63.1 percent of shots against Grinnell College on January 30, 2010. Lake Forest was also 8-for-13 (61.5%) from beyond the arc and 18-for-21 (85.7%) from the free throw line. The visitors also out-rebounded Beloit 31-24.
Forester sophomore guard Eric Porter and forward Orlando Brown were next on the team with 16 points apiece. Porter made all six of his free throw attempts and added three assists and a pair of steals. Brown shot 8-for-11 from the field and grabbed six rebounds. Junior forward Jim Schick scored 15 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. Junior guard Mike Rueffer's eight assists were a career-high and led all players in the contest.
Lake Forest led by as many as 11 points in the first half but a 13-1 run by the Buccaneers gave the home team a 32-31 advantage with a minute to play in the period. A free throw by Sotos and a traditional three-point play by Schick put the Foresters ahead 35-32 at intermission.
Beloit trimmed the margin to a single point three times early in the second half but a 22-4 run by the Foresters quickly extended their lead to 20 with six-and-a-half minutes remaining. The Buccaneers closed to within 11 points but got no closer as Lake Forest connected on nine of 10 free throws in the final two-and-a-half minutes to secure the victory.
The Foresters are now 6-4 overall and 4-2 in Midwest Conference play this season. Beloit fell to 4-8 overall and 2-5 in the league.
Lake Forest will be back on the road at Illinois College Saturday afternoon at 1:00.
