The Knox College men's basketball team proved resilient, battling one of the top teams in the Midwest Conference. However, the Prairie Fire never overcame the deficit, falling to Lake Forest 105-87.

Throughout the afternoon, Knox (6-10, 2-5) repeatedly fell behind, chipped away at the Forester lead, and watched Lake Forest answer with timely runs that kept the Prairie Fire at bay.

Seven minutes into the game, the Foresters started strong, taking an 18-8 lead. Rallying in response, the Prairie Fire grabbed a 27-26 lead on a Josh Stewart bucket at the 8:19 mark.

After Knox's rally, Lake Forest responded quickly. The Foresters delivered a decisive 28-5 run, building a 54-32 lead with 1:36 to go in the half. 

Despite this setback, the Prairie Fire cut the deficit to 15 at the half and carried the momentum into the second half, narrowing the gap to 10, 60-50, less than four minutes after play resumed.

Still, the Foresters responded and pushed the lead to 20, only for Knox to battle back once more, trimming the deficit to 12. In the end, though, Lake Forest found its footing and put Knox away to close out the contest.

Josh Stewart led Knox with 24 points, seven assists, and six rebounds, shooting 10-12. Russell Wright contributed 18 points, and Carl Dortch added 10.

The Prairie Fire shot 32-63 (50.8 percent) from the field, 11-23 (47.8 percent) from three, and 12-13 (92.3 percent) from the line. The 11 threes tied their season high, and the 87 points marked their second-highest output this year.

Knox is next in action on Wednesday, hosting Grinnell at 5:30 p.m.