One quarter. One quarter was all the Nipissing Lakers men's basketball needed to shoot a little better and they had a great chance to earn their first win of the season.

For the second straight night, the Lakers competed hard, battled from start to finish, but came up just short as they fell 69-57 to the Queens Gaels to close out the weekend.

After leading 23-18 after the opening quarter, the Lakers struggled in the second and were ultimately outscored 16-8 which put them down heading into the half.

Before being outscored in the second quarter, the Lakers had their biggest lead of the year, up 30-18.

In the second half, they kept close and stayed within reach, but were outscored 35-26 and lost by 12 at the end of the day.

Nipissing only trailed by five in the fourth quarter, but were unable to pick up a key bucket down the stretch.

Marcus Lewis put up 15 points for the Lakers, while Kalil Langston and Mike Angenent added nine each.

The Lakers are on the road next weekend, facing Lakehead Friday night in Thunder Bay and Saturday in Guelph.