The Lake Forest College men's basketball team was defeated 78-67 by Cornell College at home on Sunday in a game originally scheduled for January 8 but postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.
The rescheduling of this game and others impacted both teams, as Cornell was playing for the first time in nearly three weeks and the Foresters were in action for the second day in a row.
The Foresters got off to a good start, scoring 12 of the game's first 16 points and leading by as many as 11 points in the first half, which ended with the home team on top 35-25.
Cornell took over in the second half, scoring the first eight points and taking a 40-39 lead less than five minutes into the period. Lake Forest tied the game twice but never led again. A 16-0 run by the Rams made the score 61-45 with 9:42 to play but the Foresters eventually closed to within seven points with two minutes remaining. They got no closer, however, and fell to 6-12 overall and 5-4 in Midwest Conference play this season.
Senior guard Sean Espinosa and sophomore guard Rocco Ronzio led the home team with 15 and 14 points, respectively, and both players connected three times from beyond the arc. Junior forward Frank Siegien was next on the team with a dozen points and sophomore forward Val Oplchenski had eight to go with a team-high eight rebounds.
Cornell shot 49.2 percent from the field, slightly better than Lake Forest's 47.4 percent. The Foresters had a 36-26 edge in rebounds but committed 14 turnovers to the Rams' seven.
Cornell improved to 10-3 overall and 5-0 in league games this season.
Lake Forest will continue MWC play Wednesday evening at Monmouth College. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.