Foresters Defeat Chicago, Improve to 3-0

Photo by Ashley Wanland
Photo by Ashley Wanland

Junior guard Sam Husting made five three-pointers and scored a career-high 17 points to help lead the Lake Forest College men's basketball team to a 75-61 victory over visiting University of Chicago on Saturday.

Husting scored 11 points in less than two minutes as the home team jumped out to a 13-5 lead early in the contest. Chicago trimmed the margin to four on three different occasions in the first half but a 10-2 run to close out the period put the Foresters on top 44-30 at intermission. Sophomore guard Sean Espinosa shot 7-for-10 from the field and led all players with 15 points in the half.

Lake Forest's lead remained in double figures throughout the second half and reached 20 with four-and-a-half minutes remaining.

All five Forester starters finished with at least 10 points. Espinosa led the way with 18, junior guard Aram Arslanian matched Husting with 17, and freshman guard Tashon Brown and senior forward Danny Sotos chipped in with 12 and 10, respectively. Arslanian pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds and added four assists to his first double-double. Brown dished out a game-high seven assists and Espinosa had four steals.

The Foresters shot 46.2 percent from the field overall and 47.8 percent (11-for-23) from three-point range. They limited the Maroons to just 35.8 percent shooting and the visitors made just five of 27 attempts from beyond the arc. Chicago had a 46-37 edge in rebounds but committed 15 turnovers to Lake Forest's nine.

The victory was the Foresters' third in as many games this season while the Maroons fell to 3-2.

Lake Forest will begin Midwest Conference play against Grinnell College at home next Friday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.