Nineteen points apiece from junior forward Danny Sotos and senior guard Eric Porter was not enough as the Lake Forest College men's basketball team was defeated 83-69 at Ripon College on Saturday.
Sotos shot 9-for-17 from the field and added four rebounds and three assists in the contest. Porter connected on four of his eight attempts from three-point range and his 61 three-pointers in 2017-18 are the fourth-highest single-season total in team history.
Junior guard Jordan Moran also reached double figures with 10 points and tied with freshman guard Sean Espinosa for team-high honors with five assists. Senior forward Orlando Brown led the visitors with six rebounds and shot 4-for-5 from the floor in a 9-point performance. He raised his field goal percentage on the season to .679.
Lake Forest shot 50 percent from the field, 5-for-12 from beyond the arc, and 10-for-11 from the foul line in the game. The Red Hawks were slightly more accurate at 51.7 percent from the floor while matching the Foresters' point total from three-point range and outscoring the visitors by eight from the line. The home team also had what proved to be a decisive 32-25 edge in rebounds.
The first half of the game was close throughout, with nine ties and no lead larger than five points. The period ended with Ripon clinging to a 34-31 edge.
The Foresters' only lead of the second half was by a point after a bucket by Sotos a little more than two minutes into the period. Ripon surged to a nine-point lead at 56-47 with 9:19 to play but Lake Forest closed back to within two after an 11-4 run that included six points from Moran. The Red Hawks, however, outscored their guests 17-5 over the next four-plus minutes to put the game out of reach.
It was the first Midwest Conference loss in six league games for the Foresters, who fell to 9-4 overall this season. Ripon improved to 6-5 overall and evened its conference reord at 3-3.
Lake Forest will play a pair of games on the road next weekend. Grinnell College will welcome the Foresters for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off on Friday and Saturday afternoon's contest at Knox College will begin at 1:00.
