The York University Lions men's basketball team welcomed the Nipissing Lakers to home court Friday night. In an eventful fourth quarter it looked as though the Lions were going to pull ahead to claim a long overdue win, but in the final seconds of the game the Lakers added a couple more points to win 75-71.
 
Gianmarco Luciani kicked off the scoring for the Lions with a three-pointer early in the first quarter. After the Lions set-up a seven-point lead, the Lakers went on a 17-0 run to take a big lead of their own. The Lions trailed by eight points at the end of the first at 19-11.
 
The Lions made some big plays early in the second quarter that allowed them to close the gap established by the Lakers. Stefano Spagnuolo made three three-pointers, which played a big role in the Lions tying up the score 26-26 with three minutes to go. The rest of the quarter remained close and finished 35-28 for the Lakers.
 
After halftime, the Lions continued to work hard and brought the score at the end of the third quarter to a two-point difference of 53-51. They continued to hang on at the start of the fourth quarter and even took a one-point lead, but the Lakers eventually found themselves with another 10-point advantage. In the final two minutes of play, the Lions reduced this gap to three points and came within one, but the Lakers took advantage of some late free throws to win the game.
 
Luciani led the Lions in points with 17. Ricky Hudson led the team in rebounds with eight.
Leading for the Lakers was Marcus Lewis with 22 points and he added nine rebounds.
 
The Lions fell to 2-15 for the regular season, while the Lakers improved to 7-9 and crept closer to a playoff spot. The Lions will be back in home game action Saturday at 8pm where they will take on the No. 7 nationally-ranked Laurentian Voyageurs.