Box Score
Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire just missed winning a third straight Midwest Conference game and shaking up the standings against co-leader Lake Forest College, but the Foresters escaped with a 57-54 win Tuesday night at Memorial Gym.
Knox went toe-to-toe with the Foresters, winners of 10 straight games coming into the contest and tied with undefeated Grinnell College (10-0, 6-0 MWC) for first place in the MWC. The Pioneers also escaped on Tuesday night, getting past a determined Illinois College team 115-113 in Grinnell, Iowa.
Lake Forest began the week leading the conference in fewest points allowed (59) while ranking 22nd in the nation in field goal percentage defense (37.9 percent) and 11th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (26.7 percent) – both percentages the best in the MWC.
The Prairie Fire (3-9, 2-5) owned a 7-4 lead six minutes into the game on a basket by senior Joe Kozak (Park Ridge, IL, Maine South). Knox maintained a three point lead at 11-8 with 11:00 in the first half when Lake Forest scored on a bucket by Travis Clark to trim the lead to 11-10 at the 10:42 mark.
The Fire followed with a 5-0 when junior Lukas Shaw (Portland, OR, U.S. Grant) scored inside and first-year Armand Stricklin (Lee Summit, MO, Lee Summit West) drained a 3-pointer with 9:14 to go for a 16-10 lead, the largest of the half for Knox.
Lake Forest (11-1, 6-0 MWC) answered the Prairie Fire’s run with a 14-8 spurt, capped off by a James Stack 3-point field goal, that tied the game at 24 apiece with 4:36 before halftime.
The teams also found themselves tied at 26-26 when senior Ben Wetherbee (Sydney, Australia, Woodstock) connected on a jumper with 1:36 to go for a 28-26 Knox lead. Lake Forest tied the game for the third time in the half on a basket by Chris Roets, who was fouled on the play and converted the free throw to give LFC a one point advantage at 29-28 at the 1:00 mark.
The Prairie Fire gained momentum going into the intermission when Wetherbee came right back and swished a 3-point basket to close out the half and give Knox a 31-29 lead at the break.
Knox shot the ball well in the first half, knocking down 54 percent from the field. The Prairie Fire made 2-of-7 shots from behind the 3-point arc and split a pair of free throws.
The Knox defense, which collapsed inside on Clark, forced Lake Forest to shoot from outside. The Foresters hit on 37 percent, including 2-of-14 from 3-point range and 1-for-1 from the foul line.
Both teams took good care of the basketball. Knox committed only four first half turnovers while LFC had just two.
Defense dominated the second half. The Prairie Fire held Lake Forest to 10 points for over 15 minutes and built the biggest lead of the game at 49-39 with 5:19 remaining on two Kozak free throws.
The Foresters, however, found their offense with 4:55 to play when Stack kicked off a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer. A jumper by Jeff Beck and two free throws by Stack trimmed the Knox lead to 49-46 with 3:34 left in the contest.
Kozak and junior Doug Lillibridge (Byron, IL, Byron High School) each split a pair of free throw attempts to increase the lead Fire’s lead to 51-46 with 2:22 remaining.
Nate Bateman sank a 3-point basket with 2:02 to play to get LFC within two at 51-49. The Prairie Fire missed on a chance to add to the lead when Wetherbee was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one from the foul line.
Bateman made the Prairie Fire pay by draining another 3-point bucket with 1:11 to go to give the Foresters a 52-51 lead, their first since the 1:01 mark of the first half.
Senior Tanner Carlson (Annawan, IL, Annawan) sank a big jump shot with 44 seconds remaining to put Knox back on top 53-52.
Lake Forest again hurt Knox from deep when Roets canned a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left for a 55-53 advantage.
Wetherbee had a chance to tie the game after he was fouled with four seconds to go but missed his first free throw and made the second.
Lake Forest, leading 55-54, completed an 18-5 run that began at the 5:19 mark and the team down by 10 when Clark sank two free throws with a tick remaining on the clock.
Free throw shooting proved to be the difference in the game for Knox. The Fire made 8-of-16 second half free throws and 9-of-18 overall. The Foresters shot 7-for-9 from the stripe.
While Knox struggled from the foul line, that wasn’t the case from the field.
The Prairie Fire shot 7-of-16 (44 percent) in the second half and 21-of-42 (50 percent) for the game. It was the fourth straight contest Knox shot 50 percent or better and the highest shooting percentage by an opponent against the Foresters this season.
Lake Forest made 8-of-25 shots in the second half and finished 21-of-60 (35 percent). The Foresters outscored Knox 24 to 9 from 3-point range. LFC went 8-for-29 from long distance and the Prairie Fire was 3-for-11.
The game featured four ties and five lead changes. Knox committed 11 turnovers that led to 14 Lake Forest College points, 12 of them in the second half. The Foresters turned the ball over six times, leading to five Prairie Fire points.
Both teams got good production off the bench. Knox's reserves combined to score 16 points and the LFC bench produced 18.
Kozak scored 12 points to lead the Prairie Fire. Shaw also reached double-figures with 11 points. The two combined to shoot 8-of-13 and grab 13 rebounds. Carlson added eight points and seven assists.
Bateman scored a game-high 17 points for Lake Forest College.
The Prairie Fire is on the road for the next two games.
Knox takes on Beloit College (3-7, 2-4) for the first time this season Friday night at 7:00. The Buccaneers cruised past Lawrence University 86-64 at home, where they’re 2-1, on January 7.
The Prairie Fire heads to DePere, Wisconsin on Saturday to play St. Norbert College for the second time this season. The tip off is at 4:00 p.m.
The Green Knights (7-5, 4-3 MWC) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 73-59 victory at home against Ripon College on Tuesday night. SNC is 5-2 on their home floor this season. The Knights beat Knox 76-57 in the first meeting between the schools on December 10 at Memorial Gym.
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