Two streaks came to an end on Friday afternoon as the York University Lions men's basketball team earned a big 79-68 victory over the cross-town rival Toronto Varsity Blues at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
The result snapped both a six-game losing skid by the Lions and a four-game winning streak the Blues carried into the contest. The Lions improved to 3-6 on the year and stole an important two points from their OUA East Division rivals, while the Blues dropped to 7-4 this season.
 
The Lions led from wire-to-wire and wasted no time pulling ahead, scoring the first seven points of the contest and leading 19-13 after the first quarter. The home team continued to pull ahead in the second, outscoring the Blues 29-14, and carried a commanding 48-27 advantage into halftime.
 
The third quarter began in similar fashion as the Lions continued to pour in the points, and half way through the frame their lead had grown to 25 points at 60-35. But the Blues did not back down and the Lions suddenly went cold, and with 6:34 remaining in the fourth quarter the gap narrowed to just six points with the Lions holding on at 66-60.
 
That was as close as the Blues would get, however, as Nidun Chandrakumar (Scarborough, Ont.) scored a big three-pointer with 3:30 left to put the game out of reach. Chandrakumar finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists, including going 3-of-5 from behind the arc.
 
Brandon Ramirez (Scarborough, Ont.), the reigning OUA and U Sports male athlete of the week, finished with 19 points and chipped in with five rebounds.
 
Also scoring in double digits were Jayden Frederick (Scarborough, Ont.) with 13 points and Matthew Carating (Mississauga, Ont.) and Julio Vazquez (Toronto) putting up 12 points apiece.
 
Toronto's leading scorer was Daniel Johansson with 16 points and he also had a game-high nine rebounds.
 
The Lions have a tough game coming up with the No. 3 nationally-ranked Ryerson Rams, the defending OUA champions, coming to the Tait McKenzie Centre on Saturday night. Tip-off is set for 8pm.