Much like their 2024-25 season to date, the Lake Forest men's basketball team was a second-half team on Friday night in the Midwest Conference Tournament semifinal against Monmouth College.
 
The Foresters snapped Monmouth's 10-game winning streak with an 81-79 victory and defeated the tournament hosts with an inspiring second-half comeback that saw Lake Forest erase a 13-point deficit. Since Jan. 4, the Foresters hold an 11-4 record and have now won five games in a row.
 
Junior Alex Forowycz was the catalyst on offense for the Foresters with 24 points. The Second Team All-MWC performer scored 16 of his points in the second half and shot an efficient 10-of-19 overall.
 
Cristian Rodriguez, Alex Knight and Elijah Bull joined Forowycz in double figures scoring, while Alex Brown chipped in nine points and tough defense off the bench.
 
Much like the regular-season finale against Beloit College, where the Foresters overcame a 16-point second-half deficit, Lake Forest made a charge after halftime to get back into the game Friday.
 
It was the Lake Forest defense that forced four Monmouth turnovers during a 12-2 run that saw Lake Forest cut the Monmouth lead to 59-57, capped by a three-pointer from Brown – his second triple of the day after making just three three-pointers in the regular season.
 
Down the stretch, the two teams went toe-to-toe in a nail-biting stretch that saw eight lead changes in the final 7:20 of the game. Bull hit a pair of free throws with 1:40 remaining to give Lake Forest the lead for good. Rodriguez iced the game with two clutch free throws to push the Lake Forest lead to four with only five seconds remaining.
 
The Foresters started the game strongly and took the energy out of the Monmouth home crowd by scoring the first six points of the game, all via layups from Rodriguez, Forowycz and Coltrane Marchand, respectively.
 
Knight, named First Team All-MWC on Thursday, kept the Foresters rolling by hitting an acrobatic layup and a pair of free throws to push the Lake Forest lead to 25-20 with just under nine minutes remaining in the half.
 
From there, the Foresters offense would hit a rough patch, as Lake Forest made just one of its final 13 shots in the half and the Fighting Scots seized the 40-29 lead at intermission by ending the half on a 20-4 run.
 
The Foresters will play for the MWC Championship on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Grinnell College, after the Pioneers defeated Illinois College in the other semifinal on Friday night.
 
The Foresters split their two matchups with Grinnell in the regular season. Lake Forest defeated Grinnell on Jan. 4 at the Sports & Recreation Center 127-116 and lost in overtime, 137-130, on the road Feb. 8.