The Lake Forest College men's basketball team defeated visiting Illinois College 76-71 in Midwest Conference action Wednesday night.

The victory did not come easy, as the Blueboys opened up a nine-point lead by the middle of the first half. Freshman guard Anthony Favia made one three-pointer to start a 14-4 Forester run and another to close it out and put the home team on top 30-29 with 2:47 to play in the half. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the period and Lake Forest took a 34-33 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Illinois College regained the lead early in the second half and the Foresters did not get it back until sophomore guard Nikolas Popovic made a layup to put Lake Forest on top for good with 11:46 remaining in the contest. The margin grew to as many as nine points and did not dip below five until the closing seconds of the game.

Senior wing Alex Forowycz led all players in the game with 25 points, thanks in part to an 8-for-8 performance at the free throw line. Senior forward Cristian Rodriguez was next on the squad with 14 points and he added a game-high 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Junior wing Coltrane Marchand also reached double figures with a dozen points and he filled up the stat sheet with eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The Foresters earned the victory despite posting a field goal percentage of .383, their second-lowest mark of the season. The Blueboys were at .483 but Lake Forest had a commanding 42-29 edge in rebounds and outscored the visitors 26-8 from the foul line.

The victory was the Foresters' fifth in a row and raised their overall record on the season to 8-5 and MWC mark to 3-1. Illinois College fell to 5-9 overall and 2-3 in the league.

Lake Forest will travel to Cornell College on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off.