BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The fourth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University men's basketball team began its season with an 81-61 non-conference victory over Lake Forest College Sunday afternoon, Nov. 7, inside the Shirk Center. The Titans led from wire-to-wire to move to 1-0 on the season, while the Foresters stumbled to 0-2 on the year. 

Senior captains Matthew Leritz (St. Louis, Mo.-St. Louis University HS), Cory Noe (Mahomet, Ill.-Mahomet-Seymour), and Peter Lambesis (Mt. Prospect, Ill.-St. Viator) led the way for the Titans. Leritz and Noe tied for the game-high with 23 points apiece, while Lambesis added 15 points. Leritz completed the double-double with a game-best 16 rebounds. Junior Cody Mitchell (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles East) grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with five points off the bench.

Lambesis tied junior Luke Yoder (Normal, Ill.-Central Catholic) for the team lead with five assists, while he also paced IWU with three steals. 

As a team, Illinois Wesleyan shot 42.4 percent from the field (28-of-66), including nine three-pointers. Noe converted 5-of-7 triples, and Leritz went 2-for-4 from the long line. Lake Forest finished 22-for-61 from the field and 8-of-23 from three. The Foresters made 9-of-18 free throws, while the Titans were 16-of-24 from the charity stripe.

Collectively, the Titans recorded 16 assists on 28 makes, with just five turnovers. The Foresters finished with 11 miscues, which IWU turned into 14 points. 

The Titans raced out to a 9-0 lead, but the Foresters fought back to pull within four, 15-11, with 11:38 to go in the opening half. Sophomore Ryan Sroka (Lake in the Hills, Ill.-Huntley) knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the key to up IWU's lead to seven, but Lake Forest scored six straight points to trim it back to two, 18-16, and force Ron Rose to call a timeout. 

Pesky on-ball defending by Lambesis led to a pair of steals and upped the Titans' lead to seven, 26-19, with 5:05 to go in the half. The Green and White's latest bucket, a fastbreak layup by Lambesis, brought about a Lake Forest timeout. 

Illinois Wesleyan pushed its lead to double digits, but Lake Forest scored the final seven points of the period to send the game into the break with IWU in front, 33-30. 

Noe drilled a three-ball on the first possession out of halftime to jump start a 10-2 IWU run. After Lake Forest answered with a layup, Lambeis hit a pair of free throws and Noe hit another triple. Lambesis wrapped up the run on a layup on an assist from Yoder to give the Titans a 43-32 lead with 17:27 to play.

The Foresters trimmed the lead to five around the 15-minute mark, but six points from Leritz and a layup from Mitchell put the Green and White up 53-40 with 13:30 remaining. 

Yoder threaded a no-look pass to the baseline to a cutting Noe to go up 20 with 2:36 to go, en route to an 81-61 victory.

Illinois Wesleyan continues its three-game season-opening homestand next weekend, Nov. 12-13, as host of the inaugural Sikma Hall of Fame Invitational. The Titans will take on Hope College Friday night, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. before battling either St. John's University or the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Saturday, Nov. 13. A full tournament schedule and information on each of the four teams competing can be found here.