The York University Lions men's basketball team got into the win column for the first time this season with an 81-62 victory over the Nipissing Lakers at the Robert J. Surtees Student Athletics Centre in North Bay, Ont., on Friday night (Nov. 13).
 
With the win, the Lions improved to 1-1 on the year while the Lakers dropped to 0-3.
 
The first quarter was evenly matched with 16 points tallied to both teams. However, as the game progressed the Lions broke free of the leveled score, adding 20 points in the second period, 25 in the third and 20 in the fourth to give them the win.
 
The Lions grabbed 27 points off of turnovers as opposed to the Lakers' 13 and attained an astounding 49 bench points opposed to the Lakers' 15.
 
There were outstanding Lions performances from several players. Gene Spagnuolo (Maple, Ont.) led the team with 14 points and added four rebounds, three steals and one assist, while newcomers Jayden Frederick (Scarborough, Ont.) and Shane Reader (York, Ont.) both had 11 points each to their names and Reader also added seven rebounds.
 
Nipissing was led in scoring by Joey Puddister, who tallied 18 points on the night.
 
In preparation for Saturday's (Nov. 14) game against the Laurentian Voyageurs, the Lions will rest up before the tip-off that will happen at 8pm in Sudbury, Ont.