Foresters Improve to 2-0 with 14-Point Victory at North Park

Photo by Sydney Gardner
Photo by Sydney Gardner

Junior guard Aram Arslanian finished with an efficient 19 points to help lead the Lake Forest College men's basketball team to an 82-68 win at North Park University Tuesday night.

Arslanian was 7-for-10 from the field and was successful on three of five attempts from three-point range and both of his free throws. He also pulled down a career-high eight rebounds and added a pair of steals.

Arslanian was actually third on the team in scoring behind sophomore guard Sean Espinosa and freshman guard Tashon Brown, who finished with 20 points apiece while also connecting three times from beyond the arc. Espinosa added five rebounds, four steals, and three assists to his stat line and is averaging 22 points in the team's first two games. Brown has now started his career with a pair of 20-point performances.

Senior guard Jordan Moran tied for game-high honors with nine rebounds and the Foresters had a commanding 40-29 edge in that category on the night. The visitors also shot nearly 51 percent from the field while limiting the Vikings to just 37 percent.

North Park led by as many as six points in the first few minutes of the game and was ahead by a point before a layup by Espinosa with 4:25 to play in the period gave the Foresters the lead for good. A couple of possessions later Lake Forest started a 9-0 run that extended the lead to double figures before a three-pointer from the Vikings made the score 39-32 at halftime.

The home team closed to within five early in the second half but a 10-4 run by the visitors quickly extended their lead to 11. After seeing the margin shrink back down to six, Lake Forest scored 11 of the game's next 12 points and led by no less than eight points the rest of the way.

The Foresters are now 2-0 and the Vikings 0-1 on the young season.

Lake Forest will not play again until Saturday, November 24, when the team hosts the University of Chicago for Parents Day.