The Forester men's basketball team was edged out 72-69 at Lawrence University Wednesday night.
Sophomore guard Alex Knight led the visitors with 19 points, one more than senior wing Johnny Roeser. A dozen of Roeser's points came before halftime and Knight poured in 13 during the final 20 minutes. Roeser also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds while sophomore guard Elijah Bull scored nine points and led all players in the contest with seven assists and three steals.
Lake Forest shot slightly better than the home team from field, connecting on 29 of 66 (43.9%) field goal attempts while the Vikings were 28-for-66. Lawrence, however, knocked down nine three-pointers to the Foresters' five. Lake Forest finished with a 42-37 edge in rebounds but committed 12 of the game's 20 turnovers.
The largest lead for either team was Lawrence's 57-49 advantage early in the second half and the Foresters were ahead by no more than two points the entire contest. A 7-0 Lake Forest run cut into that eight-point deficit and the visitors eventually took a 67-66 lead on a steal and layup by Bull with 5:49 to play. After more than four scoreless minutes, a three-pointer put Lawrence back on top but Knight quickly tied the score on a layup with 1:16 left. The home team regained the lead on a basket with 42.7 seconds on the clock and, despite missing two of three free throws in the final 16.6 seconds, the Vikings held on for the victory.
The loss dropped the Foresters overall record this season to 10-12 and they fell to fifth in the Midwest Conference standings at 7-6 in league play. Lawrence improved to 9-14 overall and 6-8 in the conference.
Lake Forest will host first-place Illinois College on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
