Behind a career-high 16 assists from junior guard Sean Espinosa, Lake Forest posted a 114-89 victory Friday evening at Grinnell College.
Espinosa's assist total is the second-highest mark in program history behind Brad Wehner's 18 against Grinnell in 2005. The Foresters matched their fourth-highest single-game assist total as a team with 33 in the contest and their 114 points tied the fifth-highest scoring output in school history.
Thanks in large part to Espinosa, the visitors were extremely efficient against the Pioneers' pressure defense, shooting 64.5 percent from the field and 7-for-16 from three-point range. They also went to the free throw line 31 times and connected on 27 of those attempts, the most by a Lake Forest team in four years. The Foresters committed 33 turnovers but out-rebounded the home team 56-34.
Junior forward Blake Godbold shot 12-for-14 from the field, knocked down all five of his free throws, and led Lake Forest with a season-high 29 points and nine rebounds. Senior guard Sam Husting was next on the team with a season-high 19 points while senior wing Aram Arslanian and sophomore guard Tashon Brown added 16 apiece.
After falling behind 7-3 early in the game, the Foresters outscored the Pioneers 21-4 over the next five-and-a-half minutes. The margin grew to 22 points late in the opening period and was 19 at 56-37 when the teams went into the locker room at halftime.
Lake Forest extended its advantage to 30 points less than five minutes into the second half and led by between 20 and 31 the rest of the way.
The victory evened the Foresters' overall record at 5-5 while Grinnell fell to 6-4. Both teams are now 2-1 in Midwest Conference play.
Lake Forest will continue its weekend in Iowa with another league game at Cornell College Saturday afternoon at 1:00.