While they came up short on their first road trip, the Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team will use it as a building block for the season.

After starting the season 1-1, the Lakers hit a road block, losing a pair of games in Toronto – 84-64 Friday to the Ryerson Rams and 86-74 Saturday to the Toronto Varsity Blues.

On Friday, it was a slow start that set the Lakers back, as they trailed 21-11 after the first quarter and were down 52-26 at halftime.

They stepped up their game in the second half, scoring 38 points, but the Rams did a good job of answering any Lakers basket with one of their own to keep the lead intact.

Jordon Campbell put up 16 points and six rebounds and both Jaaden Lewis and Justin Shaver added 11 points in the loss.

On Saturday, the start was better, but the Lakers still found themselves trailing at the end of the first and at halftime.

Toronto jumped out to a 25-13 lead after one and led 40-35 at the break.

The teams were fairly even in the second half, but much like Friday, the Lakers couldn't put together enough of a run to close the gap.

Toronto outscored Nipissing 24-21 and 22-18 down the stretch to pick up the victory and send the Lakers to their second straight loss.

Lewis had a big game, scoring 21 points while Shaver added 15 and seven rebounds off the bench.

Campbell put up another 10 and Marcus Lewis scored eight.

Nipissing will now refocus and look towards a pair of tough games, as they host Carleton and Ottawa this weekend at the RJS Athletic Centre.

Tip-off for both games is set for 8pm.