Senior guard Eric Porter and sophomore guard Luke McDermott shared team-high honors with 17 points apiece as the Lake Forest College men's basketball team defeated Great Lakes Christian College 101-76 Friday evening in the semifinals of the Carthage College Classic.
Porter connected on five of eight attempts from three-point range while McDermott was 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. The Foresters shot 43.3 percent (13 of 30) on three-pointers in the game.
Sophomore forward Jason Hasenberg was next on the team with 16 points, junior guard Jordan Moran had 11, and senior forward Orlando Brown added 10. The three combined to shoot a blistering 15-for-16 from the field. Moran added four steals while Brown and Hasenberg grabbed five rebounds apiece.
Sophomore guard Sam Husting led all players in the contest with nine rebounds and freshman guards Sean Espinosa and Eoghan Kelly each had a game-high five assists.
The Foresters shot 55.4 percent from the field while limiting Great Lakes Christian to 39.1 percent. Lake Forest also had a 48-30 edge in rebounds but committed 22 turnovers to the Lakes' 18.
After Great Lakes Christian scored the first basket of the game, Porter started a 13-0 run with a pair of three pointers and the Foresters led the rest of the way. Lake Forest rattled off 14 consecutive points later in the period and led 52-22 at halftime. The margin grew to as many as 39 points in the second half before the Lakes closed to within 25 by the time the buzzer sounded.
The victory evened the Foresers' overall record on the season at 1-1 while Great Lakes Christian fell to 1-6.
Carthage defeated Rockford College in Friday's second semifinal, setting up Saturday's championship between Lake Forest and the hosts. The game is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.