Senior forward Danny Sotos led all players in the game with 25 points, including the 1,000th of his career, in the Lake Forest College men's basketball team's 108-100 loss to visiting Grinnell College Friday night.
Sotos entered the contest needing 19 points, more than he had scored in any of his previous six games against the Pioneers, to become the 23rd player in program history to reach the milestone. He had nine points at halftime and scored his 10th and 11th of the second half on a layup with 10:27 to play. Sotos shot 10-for-12 from the field, pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the year, added five assists and a pair of blocked shots, and did not commit a turnover in the game.
Lake Forest sophomore guard Sean Espinosa, freshman guard Tashon Brown, and junior guard Sam Husting each knocked down three shots from beyond the arc and finished with 18, 15, and 9 points, respectively. Brown and junior guard Aram Arslanian matched Sotos with five assists apiece while freshman guard Elliot Jung came off the bench to lead the Foresters in that category with six.
The Foresters' downfall was the 27 turnovers they committed while forcing just 12 in the contest. They shot 56 percent from the field to Grinnell's 39 and had a slight 51-48 edge in rebounds.
Lake Forest led for nearly the entire first half and the margin reach as many as 11 points on three different occasions. The Pioneers chipped away at the deficit and a basket at the buzzer made the score 51-50 in favor of the Foresters at halftime.
There were five ties and five lead changes and neither team led by more than five during the first 12 minutes of the second half. Lake Forest closed to within a point after trailing by six and pulled back to within one again after falling behind by seven but was unable to complete the comeback. A traditional three-point play by the Pioneers with 2:42 to play made it a five-point game and the margin remained between four and eight points the rest of the way.
It was the Midwest Conference opener for both teams. The loss dropped the Foresters' record on the season to 3-1 while Grinnell improved to 4-2.
Lake Forest will host Cornell College Saturday afternoon at 3:00.
