Seniors Aram Arslanian and Sam Husting scored 23 points apiece in their final career home game as Lake Forest defeated Grinnell College 104-96 on Saturday to earn a spot in next weekend's four-team Midwest Conference Tournament.
Arslanian and Husting were honored in a short Senior Day ceremony before the game and then helped the Foresters extend their season with the victory. In addition to their scoring totals, Arslanian led all players in the contest with a career-high 10 assists and added eight rebounds and a pair of steals while Husting knocked down seven three-pointers and chipped in on the boards with five.
Sophomore forward Kurt Kozarits, who entered the contest with 10 points on the season, scored 14 on Saturday on 7-for-11 shooting. Junior guard Sean Espinosa, who singlehandedly beat the Grinnell press throughout most of the game, scored a dozen points and finished with seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. Freshman forward Frank Siegien also reached double figures and matched his season-high with 10 points.
The Foresters shot 58.7 percent from the field and made 10 three-pointers in 26 attempts (38.5%). The Pioneers connected on 37.5 percent of their field goal attempts, including 14 of 52 tries from beyond the arc. The visitors had a slight 46-40 edge in rebounds and Lake Forest accounted for 16 of the game's 30 turnovers.
Lake Forest led by as many as 12 points in the opening period but that advantage disappeared by halftime, which arrived with both teams having scored 53 points.
A Pioneer three-pointer to start the second half was followed by an 18-2 run by the Foresters that gave them a 13-point cushion. Grinnell closed back to within four points on five separate occasions late in the game but the home team had an answer each time. Husting's final points of the afternoon came on a three-pointer that made it a seven-point game with 29.2 seconds on the clock. After the visitors matched that three-pointer nine seconds later, Espinosa and Arslanian each knocked down a pair of free throws to help secure the victory.
Lake Forest completed the regular season with a 13-12 overall record and a 10-8 mark in MWC play, good for third place in the league standings. Grinnell finished the year 13-12 overall and 9-9 in the conference.
The Foresters will take on second-place Ripon College next Friday night in the semifinals of the MWC Tournament, which will be hosted by league champion St. Norbert College. St. Norbert will face Cornell College in the other semifinal and the tournament final will be played Saturday afternoon.