Freshman guard Elliot Jung scored the winning basket with 0.8 seconds on the clock as the Forester men's basketball team edged out visiting Cornell College 90-88 on Saturday.
Jung, who had just four points on the day, tapped out the rebound to a teammate on Lake Forest's first attempt at the game-winner. The ball was passed around and came back to Jung beyond the three-point arc. He pump-faked, drove to the basket, and laid it in to spoil the Rams' bid at a comeback victory.
The home team led 71-59 with 10:55 to play after junior guard Sam Husting knocked down his fourth three-pointer in as many attempts on the day. The lead was 10 after Husting connected on three free throws at 8:34 and was still fairly comfortable at eight after a layup by sophomore guard Sean Espinosa with 4:48 left. Back-to-back three-pointers from Cornell made the score 86-84 but a jumper by junior guard Aram Arslanian with 2:40 remaining took the lead back up to four. After a free throw and another three-pointer from the Rams tied the score at 88 with 1:19 left, both teams had a chance pull ahead. Arslanian was called for an offensive foul but soon redeemed himself with a steal at the other end of the court. His shot in the final 10 seconds set Jung's heroics into motion and the home team came away with the win.
Espinosa led Lake Forest with 23 points and Husting finished with 16, despite attempting just four shots from the field. Senior forward Danny Sotos and freshman guard Tashon Brown scored 15 apiece and Arslanian had 14 to go with a team-high nine rebounds and three steals. It was the second time this season that all five Forester starters scored in double figures.
Lake Forest shot 50.7 percent from the field but the Rams were even better at 56.9 percent. While the Foresters' 10-for-22 performance from beyond the arc would usually be considered very successful, Cornell missed just four times in 17 long-range attempts. The home team's advantage came in the turnover department, where the Foresters forced 15 while committing just 9.
The victory evened Lake Forest's Midwest Conference record and 1-1 and improved the team's overall mark to 4-1. Cornell fell to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the league.
The Foresters will host St. Norbert in another conference contest Wednesday night at 7:30.
