The York University Lions men's basketball team led at the half but was outscored by 18 points in the third quarter en route to a 79-58 loss to the Toronto Varsity Blues at the Goldring Centre on Friday afternoon.
 
The Lions built an 8-2 lead early, but the Varsity Blues came storming back to take a three-point lead at the end of the first, at 18-15. The two teams traded the lead back and forth throughout the second quarter, and when the buzzer sounded on halftime the Lions held a one-point advantage, 31-30.
 
The Lions scored the first basket of the second half and it remained tight with 4:23 remaining in the third quarter, with the Blues up 43-39. However, the Lions struggled offensively after that and the Blues went on a big run, closing out the quarter with 13 straight points to take a commanding lead.
 
The Blues scored another six points to open the fourth before the Lions finally drained another basket, and from there the two squads played evenly again but Toronto's dominant third quarter made the difference.
 
Brandon Ramirez (Scarborough, Ont.), the U SPORTS male athlete of the week last month, had another big game with a double-double, putting up 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lions in both categories. Julio Vazquez (Toronto) shot an efficient 4-of-7 from the floor and finished with 11 points.
 
Toronto's offensive attack was led by Devin Johnson, who finished with 23 points, five rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block.
 
The Lions are now 4-12 on the year, while the Blues improved to 10-5.
 
The Lions will return home to the Tait McKenzie Centre next weekend for a pair of tough contests against two of the top teams in the country in the No. 1 Carleton Ravens and the No. 3 Ottawa Gee-Gees. Up first are the Gee-Gees on Friday night at 8pm.