Senior forward Jim Schick finished with a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds but the Forester men's basketball team was edged out 77-75 in overtime Wednesday night by visiting Illinois College.
Schick was perfect from the field, connecting on all nine of his field goal attempts, and recorded a double-double for the fourth consecutive meeting with the Blueboys.
Junior guard Eric Porter, sophomore forward Danny Sotos, and senior guard Mike Rueffer also reached double figures for the Foresters with 14, 13, and 11 points, respectively. Sotos added seven rebounds, Porter three steals, and Rueffer three assists.
Lake Forest shot 40.3 percent from the floor in the contest but made just three of 18 attempts from three-point range. Illinois College connected on 46.8 percent of its field goal attempts and on a dozen three-pointers in 28 tries. The Foresters had a 42-34 edge in rebounds and committed just eight turnovers while forcing 14.
The home team led by as many as eight points in the first half and by six at 34-28 at the buzzer.
After a layup by Porter made it a seven-point game early in the second half, the Blueboys scored 10 straight points to pull ahead by three. The Foresters eventually regained the lead and extended it to six points (58-52) with five-and-a-half minutes left. The visitors came back and tied the score at 60 and 62 before taking a two-point lead on a basket with 1:39 to play in regulation. Rueffer then made two of his nine free throws on the night with 90 seconds on the clock and neither team scored again in the half.
Ilinois College scored the first five points of the extra period and led by six with less than two minutes to play. The game quickly became a free throw battle as the Foresters were fouled attacking the basket and were doing the fouling on defense. Thanks to four missed foul shots in nine attempts by the Blueboys in the final minute-and-a-half, Lake Forest was eventually able to pull to within a point on a Rueffer layup with 9.9 seconds on the clock and the Foresters had the ball, down just two, with nine second left but were unable to score.
Lake Forest is now 9-7 overall and 7-4 in Midwest Conference play this season. Illinois College improved to 5-11 overall and 3-8 on teh league.
The Foresters will travel to Knox College on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
