Sophomore guard Aram Arslanian led all players with 23 points to help lead the Lake Forest College men's basketball team to a 73-63 victory over visiting Lawrence University on Wednesday.
Arslanian more than doubled his previous career-high of 11, set more than a year ago. He shot 8-for-12 from the field and made two of four attempts from three-point range and all five of his free throws in the contest. Arslanian also grabbed four rebounds, dished out two assists, made three steals, and did not commit a turnover in 29 minutes of play.
Forester senior guard Eric Porter was next on the team with 17 points and he matched Arslanian's steal total while adding three assists. Porter connected four times from beyond the arc and is now just one three-pointer shy of tying the single-season school record of 75 set by Jermaine Williams in 1994-95.
Junior forward Danny Sotos also reached double figures with 15 points and he led all players in the game with a career-high 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the year.
Lake Forest shot 47.2 percent from the field on the evening while limiting the Vikings to 45.1 percent. The home team outscored Lawrence 24-6 on three-pointers and both teams made 15 free throws. The Foresters had a significant advantage on the boards, grabbing 39 rebounds to the visitors' 26.
Porter scored the game's first three points on a long range jumper and Lake Forest led the rest of the way. The margin reached 11 points at 15-4 early on but the Vikings eventually trimmed it to a single point at 20-19 with six-and-a-half minutes to play in the opening period. The Foresters scored 11 of the game's next 13 points and later extended their lead to 13 on a three-pointer by Sotos in the final minute of the half. A Lawrence free throw and layup made it a 10-point game (40-30) at the break.
The Vikings scored the first seven points of the second half to cut the deficit to three but they got no closer. Lake Forest pulled away and led by as many as 13 points again on consecutive layups by sophomore guard Sam Husting, Sotos, and Porter in the middle of the period. Lawrence eventually pulled back to within six 65-59 with a little more than two minutes left but Arslanian helped secure the victory with seven points in the final 1:50.
Lake Forest improved to 11-5 overall and 7-2 in Midwest Conference play this season. Lawrence fell to 9-6 overall and 5-4 in the league.
The Foresters will travel to Monmouth College on Saturday to face one of the other two teams tied atop the league standings. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.