The Lake Forest College men's basketball team defeated visiting Grinnell College 110-90 in Saturday's regular season finale to keep hopes of a berth in the four-team Midwest Conference Tournament alive.
Senior guard Sean Espinosa and forward Kurt Kozarits helped lead the home team to victory what was surely their final game in the Sports and Recreation Center and what may have been their last appearance as Foresters overall. Espinosa scored 19 points and added nine assists while Kozarits turned in four crowd-pleasing dunks and finished with a dozen points.
While the seniors came through on their special day, it was junior wing Johnny Roeser who filled up the stat sheet with 29 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists, and a pair of blocks. He shot 9-for-16 from the field and 9-for-11 from the free throw line on the afternoon.
Sophomore guard Rocco Ronzio and sophomore forward Val Oplchenski also scored in double figures for Lake Forest. Ronzio knocked down four three-pointers in a 16-point performance while Oplchenski was 5-for-5 from the field and finished with 13.
The Foresters shot a season-high 66.1 percent from the field, their best mark in more than five years, while Grinnell was at 41.1 percent. Lake Forest also had a 42-31 edge on the boards.
The first basket of the contest went to the Pioneers but the Foresters accounted for the game's next 13 points and never relinquished the lead. Grinnell closed to within four points late in the opening period but a 14-5 Lake Forest run to close out the half made it a 13-point game (50-37) at the break.
The margin remained in double figures and reached as many as 22 points in the second half.
The Foresters are now 10-15 overall and they finished the regular season with a 9-7 record in MWC play. Grinnell fell to 16-7 overall and 10-5 in the league.
Lake Forest needs a Grinnell victory at Illinois College and a Monmouth College triumph at Lawrence University on Sunday, as well as a Knox College victory over Illinois College on Tuesday, to finish fourth in the conference standings and earn a spot in next weekend's four-team MWC Tournament.
