It wasn't the start they were hoping for, but it was a positive finish for the Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team, during their exhibition tournament at Concordia University.

The Lakers finished with a 1-2 record, losing to Concordia and Brock, before defeating Cape Breton in their tournament finale.

Nipissing's record now sits at 2-3 through their first five pre-season games, with four left on the schedule including a trip to Alberta and one more home game.

While the results weren't necessarily what they were after, the Lakers did learn from their trip to Quebec, playing one conference and two non-conference opponents.

Lakers head coach Chris Cheng liked what he saw at times, but knows the team has work to do.

"We showed that we can physically compete against top teams, but unfortunately, we cannot sustain it physically, more mentally, for 40 minutes," he said.

A huge positive the team is taking away from the trip is the chance they had to bond and become a team, as they head towards the regular season.

Over the weekend, the team really came together on and off the court. Everyone was able to play and see the court this weekend and that is important especially during the pre-season. Everyone had an opportunity to contribute.

Cheng said one of the best things about pre-season is the ability to see what works and what doesn't when it comes to lineups and matchups.

The Lakers were able to see how their roster looks in difference situations, which will go a long way in the future success of the team.

"We experimented with different line-ups. The reason for this is to see what line-ups work offensively and defensively in different aspects of the game such as; which line-up will get us back in the game offensive and defensively, what is our best defensively line-up and what line-up can we go with if we switch everything defensively," Cheng explained.

At the end of the day, the tournament, as well as games at Homecoming, were a good way to evaluate the team.

"I thought we played well, but not well enough to get at least two wins. We definitely learned a lot about our team and the potential of this team," Cheng said.

The Lakers head to Alberta for three games beginning Oct. 20 versus the MacEwan Griffins, Oct. 21 against the Alberta Golden Bears and finally facing the UBC Thunderbirds to close out the trip on Oct. 22.