The York University Lions men's basketball team was defeated 86-71 by the No. 4 nationally-ranked Brock Badgers in the first game of their home-opening weekend on Friday (Nov. 20) at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
It was a nail biting first quarter as both teams seemed to be sinking every shot. Nathan Culbreath (Kingston, Ont.) made four jump shots in a row early in the quarter to edge out an a four point lead, and Jayden Frederick (Scarborough, Ont.) had the fans on their feet as he rounded out the 18-17 lead with an slam dunk.
 
In the second quarter, however, the Badgers were able to recover with two critical three-point shots from Bennett Bryan. Lions Shane Reader (York, Ont.), Tommy Hobbs (Anchorage, Alaska) and Tristan Newman (Maple, Ont.) also made three-pointers of their own, but it wasn't enough to maintain their lead and Brock led 43-38 at the half.
 
In the third quarter Reader came out flying and grabbed points off of critical interceptions. Gene Spagnuolo (Maple, Ont.) also hit an excellent step-back three pointer in the quarter, but the frame finished in the Badgers' favour with a score of 67-55.
 
Phillip Gillen (Hamilton, Ont.) also contributed to the Lions' points, but Brock's Dani Elgadi tallied an outstanding 11 points out of 19 for his team in the fourth quarter, which allowed the Badgers to take the 15-point win.
 
Reader finished with a team-high 16 points and added four rebouds, four assists and three steals for the Lions.
 
Brock had two players score more than 20 points, with Elgadi tallying 25 to go along with 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Johneil Simpson scored 24 points and had four rebounds and four assists.
 
Up next for the Lions is another home game that will be played against the No. 9 McMaster Marauders. Tip-off is 8 pm on Saturday (Nov. 21) at the Tait McKenzie Centre.