The Lake Forest College men's basketball team hosted and defeated Monmouth College 94-85 Tuesday night.
Forester senior guard Sean Espinosa led all players in the game with 37 points and five assists while adding four rebounds a pair of steals. He took over in the second half, shooting 9-for-12 from the field and scoring 26 points in the final 20 minutes of the contest. The point total is a new personal best for Espinosa and tied the 13-highest mark in program history. He also moved past Tim Bernero (1983-87 and Eric McDonald (2001-05) and into ninth place in school history with 1,358 career points.
Junior wing Johnny Roeser was next on the team with 23 points and he grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the year. He was 12-for-12 from the free throw line, matching the highest individual free throw total without a miss in program history. Eric Porter was also 12-for-12 on foul shots against the University of Chicago in November of 2017.
Sophomore guard Rocco Ronzio and forward Val Oplchencki also reached double figures for Lake Forest with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
The Foresters shot 50.8 percent from the field while holding the Fighting Scots to 46.5 percent. Lake Forest also outscored the visitors 24-15 on three-pointers and 20-14 at the line. Monmouth had two more rebounds (38-36) but also two more turnovers (11-9) than the home team.
The game was tied at 28 before a 16-4 run by the Foresters gave them a 12-point lead. Monmouth score the final five points of the opening period, making it a 44-37 game at halftime.
The margin was up to 12 two Forester possessions into the second half but back down to four a minute-and-a-half later. The Fighting Scots closed to within three with 13:36 to play but got no closer. Nine straight points by Espinosa gave Lake Forest a 14-point lead with less than 10 minutes left and the lead never dipped below six the rest of the way. Espinosa and Roeser were each 4-for-4 from the line in the final minute of the game.
Lake Forest is now 3-6 overall and 2-0 in Midwest Conference play this season. It was the first league game of the year for the Scots, who fell to 0-7 overall.
The Foresters will travel to Cornell College on Saturday. Tip-off was recently moved up an hour to 2:00 p.m.