The Lake Forest College men's basketball team hosted and defeated Knox College 70-59 Tuesday night. Junior guard Chris Roets came off the bench to score a team-high-tying 14 points.
With 11 points at halftime, Roets had nearly one-third of the Foresters' 34 points. He shot 5-for-8 and knocked down three three-pointers in six attempts in the contest.
Matching Roets' 14 points was junior post player Travis Clark, who also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. He also added two assists, a steal, and four blocked shots. Sophomore guard Jeff Beck was next on the team with nine points and junior forward Nate Bateman finished with eight points, eight rebounds, and three assists.
The Foresters shot 47.3 percent from the field, made one-third of their 21 three-point field goal attempts, and connected on 11 of 16 shots from the foul line. The Prairie Fire shot just 38.5 percent from the floor, 6-for-16 from beyond the arc, and 13-for-22 from the line. Lake Forest out-rebounded the visitors 38-31 and both teams committed a dozen turnovers.
Knox led by as many as seven points early in the game before a 15-1 run gave the Foresters the seven-point (21-14) advantage. Lake Forest was unable to increase the lead in the period and was ahead 34-28 at halftime.
A Prairie Fire three-pointer early in the second half trimmed the margin to just three points. Lake Forest, however, scored the next 11 points and maintained a double-figure lead until the closing minutes. Knox never got closer than eight points and the Foresters made eight of 11 free throws in the final two minutes to help seal the victory.
Lake Forest is now 5-6 overall and 3-3 in Midwest Conference play. The Prairie Fire fell to 1-11 overall and 0-7 in the MWC. The Foresters will host league games against Ripon College at 7:00 Friday night and Beloit College Saturday evening at 5:00. Links to live video and live stats for both games will be available on the Lake Forest College Athletics website.
