Sophomore guard Tashon Brown finished just two rebounds and an assist shy of a triple double Saturday afternoon in a 79-70 victory at Knox College.
Brown scored 18 points, including six on as many attempts from the foul line in the final 6:19 of the contest. The eight rebounds represented a season-high for Brown and it was the third nine-assist performance of his career and second this year. He also chipped in with a pair of steals on the afternoon.
Freshman guard Aidyn Albright led the Foresters with 19 points, including 17 after halftime, and junior guard Sean Espinosa added 16. Albright shot 5-for-10 from beyond the arc and now has a team-high 31 three-pointers in just nine games this season.
Lake Forest shot just 42 percent from the floor while the Prairie Fire connected on exactly half of their field goal attempts. The Foresters outscored the home team 27-24 on three-pointers, although they needed a dozen more attempts, and made all 14 of their free throws for the second-best performance from the line in program history. Knox had a slight 35-33 edge on the boards but committed 14 turnovers to Lake Forest's five.
The Foresters trailed by as many as six points in the opening period but went into the locker room at halftime ahead 32-30. Knox opened the second half with 11 consecutive points and led by 10 at 46-36 at the 14:32 mark. All five of Albright's three-pointers came within a five-minute span and his jumper at the 8:29 mark put the visitors on top 60-59. The lead changed hands six more times, the last on a jumper by Espinosa that made the score 71-70 in favor of Lake Forest with 2:46 remaining. Knox did not score again and Brown and Espinosa went 6-for-6 from the line down the stretch to help secure the victory.
With the win the Foresters climbed back above the .500 mark at 7-6 and they improved to 4-2 in Midwest Conference play. Knox fell to 5-8 overall and 1-5 in the league.
Lake Forest will travel to Appleton, Wisconsin, next Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off at Lawrence University.
