Senior forward Danny Sotos finished with 17 points and became the 13th-leading scorer in program history on Saturday but the Foresters were unable to overcome a 21-point deficit and fell 87-83 to visiting Monmouth College.
Sotos was actually third on the team in points on Saturday, trailing sophomore guard Sean Espinosa and freshman guard Tashon Brown, who each had 20. Junior guard Aram Arslanian also reached double figures with 10 points. Brown led the home team with eight rebounds and three steals and Espinosa added a pair of steals.
Monmouth closed out the first half with a 17-6 run and led 48-32 after 20 minutes of play. The margin grew to 21 points at 62-41 with less than 13 minutes remaining before the Foresters began the comeback effort. A traditional three-point play by Brown made it a nine-point game with six minutes left but the Fighting Scots immediately regained their 12-point lead on a three-pointer. Lake Forest continued to chip away, closing to within eight on a basket by Espinosa with three-and-a-half minutes left, six on an Espinosa jumper with 1:44 to play, and five on another three-point play by Brown with 66 seconds to go. The Scots, however, shot 7-for-8 from the line in the game's final 63 seconds and their lead reached 10 before three points each from Brown and Espinosa in the final 10 seconds closed out the scoring.
Both teams shot 48 percent from the field, connected seven times from three-point range, and grabbed 32 rebounds. They were also extremely successful from the free throw line with Monmouth making 24 of 25 attempts while the 16-for-16 Foresters set a program record for foul shots in a game without a miss. The turnover edge went to the Scots, who committed just six while forcing 10.
Both teams are now 6-4 in the Midwest Conference and tied with Lawrence University for fourth place in the conference standings. Lake Forest fell to 10-7 overall while Monmouth improved to 8-9.
The Foresters will play a pair of league games on the road next weekend, taking on Illinois College at 7:30 Friday night and Knox College the following afternoon at 1:00.
