Junior guard Andrew Toth scored a game-high 20 points to help lead the Forester men's basketball team to a 95-78 victory at Grinnell College on Saturday.
Toth needed just 15 minutes to reach 20 points and was joined in four teammates in double figures. Junior guard Ray Hunnicutt, who entered the contest with 13 points in his two seasons on the team, finished with 15 after shooting 7-for-13 from the field. Sophomore forward Orlando Brown matched Hunnicutt's total while freshman forward Danny Sotos and sophomore guard Eric Porter chipped in with 12 and 11, respectively.
Lake Forest junior forward Jim Schick grabbed 17 rebounds, including eight at the offensive end of the court, while freshman guard Jordan Moran added a career-high 12 boards and Brown finished with eight. The Foresters pulled down 70 rebounds on the afternoon, their most in a game total since 1967, the third-highest total in team history, and exactly twice as many as Grinnell.
The visitors shot 46.3 percent from the field but just 4-for-15 from three-point range and 17-for-27 from the free throw line. Grinnell was held to just 35.4 percent from the floor and connected on only 14 of 50 attempts from beyond the arc.
The lead changed 13 times in the first half. Neither team led by more than four points until a 9-2 run by the Pioneers gave them a 40-35 advantage with 4:44 to play in the period. The Foresters scored the game's next 10 points to take a five-point lead of their own and pulled ahead by as many as nine points before taking a 53-47 edge into the locker room at halftime.
Grinnell closed to within a point with 12 minutes to play but Lake Forest responded with a nine-point run and led by at least seven the rest of the way. The Foresters limited the Pioneers to just three points in the game's final four-and-a-half minutes to secure the crucial victory.
Lake Forest is now 11-9 overall and 9-7 in Midwest Conference play this season. The team entered the day a game behind Monmouth College for fourth place in the league standings but pulled even thanks to the Scots' loss to Beloit College. Just four teams from the league will earn spots in the MWC Tournament February 26-27. Grinnell fell to 8-13 overall and 5-11 in the conference.
The Foresters will play their final two regular season games at home next week, beginning with a match-up with Cornell College Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Lake Forest will also host Carroll University next Saturday afternoon at 1:00.
