The Forester men's basketball team hosted and defeated Millikin University 79-70 Tuesday night.
Lake Forest senior guard Sean Espinosa led all players in the contest with 24 points while sophomore forward Val Oplchenski and freshman wing Ethan Augusto also reached double figures with 14 and 12, respectively. Oplchenski pulled down a team-high six rebounds while Espinosa and junior wing Johnny Roeser each dished out four assists.
Sophomore guard Zach Foster scored nine points off the bench and the Foresters outscored their guests by 16 while he was on the court. Roeser was also +16 and played just 24 minutes because of foul trouble.
Lake Forest shot 49 percent from the field, which was just slightly better than Millikin's 45.3 percent. Both teams made seven three-pointers but the Foresters had a significant advantage at the foul line, where they knocked down all but one of 23 attempts while the Big Blue were 5-for-9. The 22 free throws made are the highest total with no more than one miss in school history.
The home team led by as many as eight points and never trailed in the opening period. Millikin trailed by one after 20 minutes of play but scored the first eight points of the second half to take a 42-35 lead. The Foresters responded with a 13-5 run over the next four-and-a-half minute to pull ahead by one and the lead changed hands eight more times in the period. The teams were separated by no more than three points for a 10-minute span that ended when a dunk by Oplchenski and a three-pointer by Roeser put Lake Forest on top 71-67 with 1:24 remaining. Espinosa, Foster, and Roeser combined to shoot 8-for-8 from the foul line in the final 30 seconds to secure the victory.
Lake Forest is now 2-5 this season while Millikin fell to 3-3.
The Foresters will travel to Wisconsin Dells on Saturday to take on the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at the JustAgame Fieldhouse. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.