The Lake Forest men's basketball team made a valiant comeback after trailing by 15 points in the second half behind a career night from forward Cristian Rodriguez, but it fell just short, as the Foresters lost to Monmouth College 97-96 in overtime Wednesday night.
 
The senior Rodriguez set a new career high with 36 points on 14-of-21 shooting in 40 minutes played. It was the most points in a game for Rodriguez since he totaled 30 points on Dec. 3, 2025, against University of Chicago.
 
In addition to his scoring prowess, Rodriguez collected 15 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Finally, Rodriguez tied a career high with six assists on the night.
 
Alex Forowycz had 20 points and six rebounds for Lake Forest (11-6, 6-2 MWC). The Foresters shot 52.5 percent from the field for the game and made 8-of-19 three-pointers. The loss snapped Lake Forest's eight-game winning streak. 
 
In overtime, sharpshooter Luke Arington made a three after a series of pump fakes to give Lake Forest a 96-94 lead with 18 seconds left. After a Monmouth made jumper tied the game, the Foresters had the ball with a chance to win the game. A Lake Forest turnover and foul with less than one second left proved to be the decider in a game between the top two teams in the Midwest Conference.
 
The Foresters had to scratch and claw to make it to overtime. After Monmouth missed a pair of free throws leading by two with less than 18 seconds remaining in regulation, Forowycz drove to his left from the top of the key, shrugged off contact and finished with a left-handed layup to tie the game.
 
On the ensuing defensive possession, Forowycz rejected a layup in the waning seconds to force overtime.
 
Trailing by double digits midway through the second half, the Foresters made their run to get back into the game. The hosts utilized a 17-6 run over a five-minute stretch, capped off by a Rodriguez layup in the post to cut the deficit to 79-77 with just over five minutes remaining, setting up the nerve-wracking finish. 
 
Both teams wasted no time getting into their groove offensively to start the game. The squads combined to score 29 points in the first four and a half minutes as the two Midwest Conference powers exchanged jabs early on.
 
The Lake Forest senior duo of Rodriguez and Forowycz carried the Foresters' offense in first half. The pair accounted for 28 of 41 Lake Forest points before halftime. Rodriguez shot 7-of-8 from the field in the opening half, including making his first three-pointer of the season off an assist from Marko Visnjevac.
 
Lake Forest went into intermission trailing 48-41, as Monmouth could not miss from three-point range. The visitors shot 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from three-point range in the first half, well above their season average of 32.6 percent.
 
Lake Forest shot 52 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point range and 11-of-13 from the free-throw line in the first half.
 
After halftime, Monmouth went on a 10-2 run in the first two minutes of the half to push the Scots' lead to 58-43.
 
The Foresters will continue to face the top competition in the Midwest Conference in their next game. Lake Forest will take on Grinnell College, currently second in the Midwest Conference, on Saturday in Grinnell, Iowa, with tip-off coming at 1 p.m.