The Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team's game Friday night can be summed up in one word; heartbreak.

The Lakers played a very strong game, one of their most complete of the season, held a big lead at half-time and led for a large chunk of the game, but came up short.

In the end – the second half – the Laurier Golden Hawks outscored the Lakers 40-30 on their way to the slimmest of wins, 73-72 over Nipissing.

Laurier came out of the gates strong, building up a 23-18 lead despite the teams going back and forth all quarter with no team holding a lead bigger than five points.

Down five in the second quarter, Nipissing came out flying, putting up their biggest period of the game – maybe of the season – scoring 24 points and grabbing the lead heading into half-time.

Thanks to their big second, Nipissing turned the tables and ended the opening 20 minutes up 42-33 and were in great shape.

The teams once again traded baskets in the third, with the Hawks closing the gap by outscoring Nipissing 27-22, which put them within striking distance heading into the final quarter.

Up four points – 64-60 – with 10 minutes to play, Laurier picked up their defensive play and totally shutdown the Lakers, holding them to just eight points the entire quarter.

Their offence wasn't exactly on fire, as they only scored 13 points, but the five point swing was enough to give the Hawks the victory.

Laurier scored the final six points of the game to squeeze out the win and end the Lakers two game win-streak and snap their own four game slide at the time.

Marcus Lewis led the team with 17 points, Jordon Campbell had a big night, scoring 16 points and adding 10 rebounds. Kalil Langston had a double-double as well, putting up 11 points and 14 boards and Marvin Ngonadi scored 12 points.

The Lakers will look to bounce back from a tough defeat Friday, as they prepare to host the Waterloo Warriors Saturday.

Waterloo lost to Laurentian Friday to drop to 1-9 on the season.

Game time is set for 8 p.m. at the RJS Athletic Centre.