The Lake Forest College men's basketball team suffered a 78-69 season-ending loss to visiting Grinnell College on Saturday. The home team finished the year 12-11 overall and 10-8 in Midwest Conference play. Forester junior forward Drew Grennell had a dozen points and 11 rebounds for his second career double-double.
Grennell shot 5-for-7 from the field, added three assists, and set a new career-high for rebounds. His first double-double was also against Grinnell on January 30, 2010.
Three other Foresters scored in double figures, led by junior forward Nate Bateman with 20. Junior post player Travis Clark finished the game with 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals. The team's leading scorer and rebounder on the season shot 8-for-10 from the floor on Saturday and 64.3 percent for the year, the third-highest mark in program history. Junior forward Dayton Young had 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the floor and also chipped in with five rebounds.
Junior guards Chris Roets and Jeff Beck led the home team with four assists apiece.
Lake Forest shot 54.5 percent from the field in the game but just 3-for-16 on three-pointers and 6-for-14 from the free throw line. The Pioneers made 25 of 66 (37.9%) field goal attempts, including 14 of 40 (35%) from beyond the arc. They were also 14-for-19 from the foul line. The Foresters out-rebounded their guests 45-25 but committed 23 of the game's 32 turnovers.
A 12-2 Grinnell run early in the game gave the visitors a lead they would never relinquish. The margin reached 27 points after a 23-2 Pioneer run late in the opening period before a pair of free throws by Clark with 30 seconds left made the score 47-22 at halftime.
The Foresters outscored the Pioneers 20-5 in the first five-plus minutes of the second half to trim the deficit to 10 points (52-42). Grinnell, however, took the lead back up to 17 before 13 straight points by Lake Forest brought the home team to within three (64-61) with six minutes to play. The Pioneers scored the next six points and made eight of 12 free throws in the final 1:45 to secure the victory.
