Chris Siebert drained a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left to lift the Lawrence University men’s basketball team to a 62-60 Midwest Conference victory over Lake Forest College on Saturday at Alexander Gymnasium.
Jon Mays paced Lawrence (2-2, 2-0 MWC) with 22 points, and Erik Borresen had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Travis Clark led Lake Forest (3-2, 2-1) with 21 points, and Jeff Beck added 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Lawrence led by as many as eight points early in the second half, but the Vikings’ lead hovered between two and five points for much of the second half.
The Vikings led 57-52 on Borresen’s layup with 3:05 left, but Chris Roets answered with a 3-pointer for the Foresters. Tyler Crisman countered with a layup with 2:29 left to push Lawrence’s lead back to 59-55, but David Pilalis hit a pair of free throws with 2:00 left to cut the lead back to 59-57.
The teams traded missed shots, and Lake Forest had the ball inside the final minute with a chance to tie or take the lead. Brian Gryszkiewicz then blocked Roets’ 3-pointer, and the Lawrence freshman guard came out of a scramble with the ball with 48 seconds left.
Lawrence looked to possibly seal the win with a basket, but Siebert got trapped by a pair of Foresters. Clark stole the ball with 22 seconds left to give Lake Forest new life.
Following a Foresters timeout, Beck drove to the basket, scored and was fouled. He converted the free throw with 13 seconds left to give Lake Forest a 60-59 lead.
Lawrence took its final timeout and Siebert got the ball just to the left of the top of the key and buried what proved to be the game-winning 3-pointer with a defender in his face. Beck missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer for the Foresters.
The Vikings are off to a 2-0 start in league play for the fifth time in the last six seasons.