Junior forward Danny Sotos finished just one rebound shy of a double-double on Saturday to help lead the Lake Forest College men's basketball team to a 76-60 victory over visiting Knox College.
Sotos scored 19 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in the contest. Six of his boards came at the offensive end of the court and the Foresters eventually scored on each of those possessions.
The leading scorer in the game was Lake Forest sophomore guard Aram Arslanian, who finished with 22 points. He shot 10-for-14 from the field and added seven rebounds and three steals to his stat line.
Forester senior guard Eric Porter and sophomore guard Luke McDermott also reached double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively, and both players connected on a pair of three-pointers. Including the only shot he attempted as a freshman at Loyola University Chicago, Porter has now made 200 three-pointers in his career. His next long-range jumper will make him the third player in program history to reach the milestone as a Forester.
Both teams shot 48 percent from the field on the afternoon. Lake Forest made seven three-pointers, one more than the Prairie Fire, and outscored the visitors 9-6 at the foul line. While the teams' shooting performances were similar, the Foresters had a commanding 35-25 edge in rebounds and committed just seven turnovers while forcing 16.
The Foresters led by as many as five points and Knox by seven in a first half that included four ties and eight lead changes. The Prairie Fire took a 37-34 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
Arslanian scored Lake Forest's first eight points of the second half and McDermott accounted for the next five as a 13-2 run to open the period put the home team on top 47-39. After five straight points by Knox made it a three-point game, the Foresters scored 11 in a row and 16 of 18 to pull ahead by 17 with seven minutes to play. The Prairie Fire got no closer than 13 the rest of the way.
Lake Forest is now 13-9 overall and 9-3 in Midwest Conference play this season while Knox fell to 4-15 overall and 2-10 in the league.
It was the first of three consecutive home games for the Foresters, who will host Beloit College in the next game Tuesday evening at 5:30.
