Senior guard Eric Porter knocked down nine three-pointers and finished with a game-high 31 points in the Lake Forest College men's basketball team's 87-71 victory at Roosevelt University Friday evening.
Porter was 9-for-13 from beyond the arc in his fourth career game with at least 30 points. He is the only player in program history to make as many as nine three-pointers in a game and has done so in each of his 30-point performances.
The Foresters, who led 39-35 at halftime, extended their advantage to 20 points with seven-and-a-half minutes to play. Porter outscored the Lakers 18-15 by himself during the run and, after Roosevelt pulled to within 15, he answered with three-pointers on the visitors' next two possessions and added a free throw on the second to complete the rare four-point play with 2:50 remaining. The home team eventually pulled to within 14 points late in the contest before a pair of free throws by Lake Forest junior forward Danny Sotos in the closing seconds finished off the scoring.
Sotos was next on the team with 14 points and he added a game-high nine rebounds. Senior forward Orlando Brown also reached double figures with a dozen points and freshman point guard Sean Espinosa had nine to go with his season-high 12 assists. Espinosa entered the weekend ranked 11th in the nation with 6.4 assists per game.
Lake Forest shot 55.4 percent from the field in the game and set season-highs with 15 three-pointers and by connecting on 57.7 percent of their attempts from long range. Roosevelt shot just 41.9 percent from the floor and 23.8 percent (5-for-21) from three-point range. The Foresters had a commanding 41-23 advantage in rebounds but committed 18 turnovers while forcing just seven.
The Foresters improved to 8-2 on the season while Roosevelt fell to 12-4.
Day two of the Roosevelt New Year's Classic on Saturday will include Lake Forest's game against the University of St. Francis at 3:00 p.m.