Junior forward Orlando Brown shot 5-for-7 from the field and scored 10 points off the bench but the Forester men's basketball team dropped a 78-70 decision at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on Saturday.
Brown was one of three Lake Forest players in double figures, led by sophomore forward Danny Sotos with 20. Sotos shot 8-for-13 from the field in the contest and connected on two of four attempts from three-point range. Senior forward Jim Schick matched Brown with 10 points and added a team-high seven rebounds.
The Foresters out-rebounded Platteville 38-28 with 20 of those boards coming at the offensive end of the court. However, Lake Forest shot just 39.7 percent from the field while the Pioneers were at 53.1 percent.
The home team scored 12 of the game's first 14 points and led by as many as 14 in the first half. The Foresters closed to within six points before a Platteville three-pointer made the score 36-27 at halftime.
The margin grew to as many as 20 points in the second half. Lake Forest chipped away at the deficit and trimmed it to six on a layup by junior guard Eric Porter with 1:14 remaining. The visitors got no closer, however, as Platteville shot 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the game's final 66 seconds.
The Foresters fell to 1-3 on the season while Platteville improved to 4-1.
Lake Forest will resume Midwest Conference play with a pair of games in Iowa next weekend. The team will take on Cornell College Friday night at 7:30 and Grinnell College Saturday afternoon at 3:00.