The Lake Forest College men's basketball team hosted and defeated Knox College 69-53 on Saturday (January 9). The Foresters are now 3-8 overall and 1-3 in Midwest Conference games. The Prairie Fire fell to 1-9 overall and 1-2 in the league.

Lake Forest sophomore forward Nate Bateman (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest Academy) scored a season-high 20 points in the contest. He shot 7-for-10 from the field and 3-for-5 from three-point range. Senior guard Victor Campbell (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) was next on the team with 13 points and sophomore post player Travis Clark (Evanston, Ill./Evanston) also reached double figures with 10. Clark also recorded three steals and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double in the last six games. Senior forward Patrick Hanley (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) added nine rebounds and led all players in the game with six assists and four steals.

An 18-6 Forester run in the first half gave the home team a 26-16 lead late in the first half. After Knox trimmed the margin to seven, three-pointers by sophomore guard Chris Roets (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) and Bateman in the final minute made the score 32-19 at halftime.

The Prairie Fire chipped away at the lead and eventually tied the game at 46 with 7:35 remaining in the contest. A pair of free throws by Clark put the Foresters back on top and started a 10-0 run. After a basket by Knox trimmed the margin to eight, Lake Forest scored six more points and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

The Foresters will be back on the road next weekend (January 15-16). The team will play at Beloit College Friday night at 7:30 and at Lawrence University the following afternoon at 4:00. Live video webcasts of both games will be available at pennatlantic.com.