LAKE FOREST, Illinois—The Prairie Fire men's basketball team suffered a 65-60 defeat at Lake Forest on Saturday afternoon.

Knox held an early 14-7 lead in the first half, but the Foresters stormed back to force a 20-20 tie. A three-pointer by Matthew Leary and a layup by Zach Lowe put the Prairie Fire back ahead, but Lake Forest knotted the score once again. A pair of treys by Leary gave Knox a six point lead with 3:26 to play in the first half. The Foresters made a three-pointer of their own with 1:11 to play and Knox went into halftime up by three.

The Prairie Fire struck first in the second half and took a seven point lead. Knox held their lead over the opening minutes and expanded the advantage to nine at the 15:06 mark. Lake Forest used a 21-4 run to take an eight point lead with 6:32 to play. The Prairie Fire battled back to a three point deficit, but the Foresters held on for the victory.

Leary led Knox with 29 points on 7-of-12 shooting from long range. He also grabbed nine rebounds. Zach Lowe added 13 points and nine boards. Ikenna Ozor also scored eight and hauled in 10 rebounds.

"We had a good run in the middle part of the game," said head coach Ben Davis. "We just could not quite stop Lake Forest's last run."

The Prairie Fire will return to action on February 5 when they host Illinois College.