Senior forward Orlando Brown shot 10-for-11 from the field and scored a season-high 21 points in 15 minutes but the Lake Forest College men's basketball team was defeated 107-93 at Grinnell College Friday evening.
Brown finished just one point shy of the career-high he set against Grinnell two years ago. He raised his field goal percentage on the season to .707 and scoring average to 10.4 points per game.
Senior guard Eric Porter, the Foresters' leading scorer on the season surpassed Brown's point total by one after shooting 5-for-8 from three-point range. He also added four assists in the contest. Sophomore guard Sam Husting was the only other player on the team in double figures, matching Porter's five three-pointers for 15 points. Husting also dished out a game-high seven assists.
Junior forward Danny Sotos led Lake Forest with nine rebounds while junior guard Jordan Moran added eight.
The Foresters shot 58.5 percent from the field but committed 25 turnovers and were out-rebounded 41-33. It was a tale of two halves for Grinnell offensively as the home team shot 29.7 percent from the floor in the game's first 20 minutes and 55.6 percent after halftime. The game was decided at the free throw line, where the Pioneers outscored their guests 30-7 by drawing 29 fouls while committing just 17.
The visitors led for the vast majority of the first half and the margin grew to eight late in the period. Three Pioneer free throws in the final 30 seconds made the score 48-43 in favor of the Foresters at halftime.
Three-pointers on Grinnell's first three possessions of the second half tied the score and the home team grabbed the lead on a layup just 63 seconds into the period. The teams went back-and-forth for the next few minutes before a pair of free throws gave the Pioneers the lead for good with 14 minutes remaining. A dunk by Brown with just less than 10 minutes left made it a two-point game but Grinnell responded with a 12-2 run. Lake Forest came back and twice trimmed the deficit to five on baskets by Porter and Brown but the visitors got no closer. The Pioneers pulled away in the final few minutes to earn the victory.
The Foresters are now 9-5 overall and 5-2 in Midwest Conference play this season. Grinnell improved to 9-4 overall and 4-3 in the league.
Lake Forest will be back in action at 1:00 Saturday afternoon at Knox College.
