The Lake Forest College men's basketball team will return from its trip to California victorious after posting a 70-66 victory at the University of Redlands Tuesday night.
Forester senior wing Johnny Roeser finished the evening with a game-high 23 points and 18 rebounds for his second double-double of the trip, fourth this season, and 17th in his career. He shot 11-for-17 from the field and played all but 68 seconds in the contest.
Lake Forest's 54 rebounds were the team's highest total in more than a year. Senior forward Frank Siegien also reached double figures in that category with 10.
The visitors shot 43.9 percent from the floor and limited the Bulldogs to just 28.9 percent. Lake Forest also outscored Redlands 21-15 on three-pointers, despite attempting just 15 shots from beyond the arc to the home team's 32. Redlands was able to keep the game close by forcing 23 turnovers while committing just 10.
Elijah Bull was next on the team with 14 points while fellow sophomore guard Alex Knight and freshman forward Noah Deitch added nine apiece. Bull and Knight each added four assists.
Lake Forest led by as many as 10 in the first half before a 14-0 run by the Bulldogs put them on top by four. The home team took a 36-33 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Foresters took the lead for good on a layup by Bull with 13:29 remaining. His only three-pointer of the night made it a 13-point game with just three-and-a-half minutes left but Redlands outscored their guests 11-3 over the next three minutes to pull to within five. Bull knocked down a pair of free throws with 24.4 seconds on the clock and Lake Forest held on for the victory, which raised their record this season to 3-8.
Redlands fell to 6-3 on the year.
The Foresters will play again in 10 days when they host Carroll University in the Sports and Recreation Center on Friday, December 30. The contest is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m.