The Lake Forest men's basketball team controlled its own destiny going into Saturday's season finale against Beloit College – win and earn a spot in the Midwest Conference Tournament and keep its season alive.
The Foresters did just that by beating Beloit on the road, 82-77, while overcoming a 16-point deficit midway through the second half to propel Lake Forest (13-12, 10-6 MWC) into the postseason. The Foresters end the regular season on a four-game winning streak.
Alex Knight was Lake Forest's leading scorer with 23 points, but it was a team effort to bring the Foresters back from the brink to keep their season alive.
Alex Forowycz recorded 16 points, while
Coltrane Marchand had 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
Luke Arington and
Michael Michaud provided much-needed bench production with 12 points apiece.
The Foresters had their hands full with an energized Beloit squad on its home court for Senior Day, but ultimately had an answer for every run from the hosts.
Beloit utilized a 15-3 run to increase its lead to as large as 59-43 with 13:48 remaining in the game. Lake Forest quickly retorted with a 12-0 run of their own to trim the deficit to just a point with under eight minutes remaining.
After tying the game multiple times, the Foresters finally broke through for their first lead of the second half with just 1:53 remaining on a layup from the senior Michaud off an assist from Knight. Beloit responded with a basket plus a foul to retake the lead before Knight buried a critical three-pointer with 1:01 left to give Lake Forest a lead it would not relinquish.
Between Forowycz and Arington, the Foresters went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final 26 seconds to seal the victory.
In the first half, neither team led by more than five points until the Buccaneers ripped off an 8-0 run to give Beloit a 32-25 lead. Lake Forest was able to respond with an 8-2 run of its own in the final 2:36 to go into halftime trailing by just a point.
The Foresters will travel to Monmouth College for the MWC Tournament, as the regular-season conference champions will host, with the semifinal games being played on Friday and the tournament final on Saturday.
