The Lake Forest College men's basketball team defeated visiting Carroll University 78-66 on Saturday. Needing 21 points to reach 1,000 for his career, Forester junior post player Travis Clark achieved the milestone from the free throw line with 30.8 seconds to play.
Clark shot 10-for-13 from the field on the day and made his only two attempts from the foul line. His 22 points led the team and he also led all players in the game with a career-high-tying 14 rebounds and blocked a pair of shots. It was his fourth consecutive double-double and ninth this year. Clark is the 19th player in program history to score 1,000 career points and just the seventh to reach the mark before his senior season.
Forester sophomore guard Jeff Beck shot 9-for-11 from the free throw line and finished with 21 points. He also dished out three assists. Junior guard Chris Roets made six three-pointers in nine attempts and scored 20 points. He also recorded a game-high three steals. It was the first time in more than three years that Lake Forest had three players score at least 20 points in the same game.
Lake Forest junior forward Nate Bateman was next on the squad with seven points and dished out a team-high five assists.
The Foresters shot a season-high 56 percent from the field, made seven of 15 three-pointers (46.7%), and knocked down 15 of 19 free throws (78.9%). They also held Carroll to 43.1 percent shooting from the floor, including an 8-of-20 performance from beyond the arc. The Pioeners were 8-for-9 from the line. Lake Forest out-rebounded the visitors 30-27 and the two teams combined for just 11 turnovers.
The home team never trailed in the game and shot 69.2 percent from the field in the first half. The margin had been as many as 20 in the period before a pair of Pioneer three-pointers in the final minute trimmed it to 14 (43-29) at halftime. Roets made five of six three-pointers and scored 17 points in the half.
Carroll scored 12 straight points early in the second half to trim the deficit to five but would get no closer. the Foresters extended their lead to 13 with 3:37 to play and maintained at least an eight-point advantage the rest of the way. Clark made his final field goal of the contest with 4:43 to play and was stuck on 999 career points until getting fouled after pulling down a defensive rebound with 30.8 seconds left.
The Foresters are now 9-10 overall and evened their Midwest Conference record at 7-7. Carroll fell to 10-9 overall and 8-6 in the league.
Lake Forest's next game will be next Saturday at home against Monmouth College. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Live stats and a live video webcast of the contest will be available on the Forester Athletics website.
