There was no shortage of drama and excitement Friday night at the RJS Athletic Centre.

The Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team and the Toronto Varsity Blues went toe-to-toe all night, with each team grabbing momentum, each team taking leads and running with them and each team fighting back.

In the end, the Lakers struggled to close out the game, allowing 21 points in the final quarter, surrendering a lead and falling 73-69 in the end.

The first three quarters were almost completely even.

After 10 minutes, the teams were deadlocked 17-17 as neither team held a lead bigger than three points.

In the second, the Lakers stepped up their game and took control of the game, outscoring Toronto 22-14 and thanks to their strong quarter, had a 39-31 lead at the half.

Toronto bounced back in a big way in the third quarter, outscoring the Lakers by only three, but they did post 21 points, as they put up 42 points in the second half.

After Toronto cut the lead to five after 30 minutes of play, Nipissing was in a position to close things out with a solid fourth quarter, but the Blues had other plans.

They put up 21 more points, for the second consecutive quarter, and turned a five point deficit into a four point win, picking up nine points – 21-12 – on Nipissing in the final frame.

Some drama capped off the game, as Toronto missed a free throw, but the officials concluded that they called for the buzzer at the incorrect time and allowed the Blues player to re-shoot.

He made both shots and the Lakers were unable to climb back into the game, despite a late three pointer by Joey Puddister which made it a two point game at the time.

All the drama, with less than a minute left, wrapped up an exciting and entertaining game.

Leading the Lakers were Marcus Lewis who put up 21 points, Jerron Rhodes added 15 and Puddister scored 11 in the Nipissing defeat.

The Lakers are back at it Saturday when they host the Ryerson Rams at 8 p.m.