The Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team finished up their second season in the OUA/CIS – a much improved one from their inaugural campaign.

While the team fell short of the playoffs, their play game in and game out was noticeably improved and they hung tough with the league's best teams.

It was a tough night offensively for the Lakers in their season finale against the top-ranked Carleton Ravens, losing 68-39.

The Lakers played a solid defensive game, but were unable match that effort that on the offensive side of the ball and came up short.

A slow start for both teams had the Lakers down 11-10, but the story of the first quarter was defence at both ends.

The Lakers defence held them in the game for much of the 40 minutes, but the Ravens were too strong.

With the score 13-12 in the second quarter, Carleton went on a run and opened up the game, outscoring Nipissing 24-7 and taking control of the game.

At the half, the Ravens led 35-17 and were in a comfortable position to cruise to the victory.

Looking for the comeback, Nipissing attempted to step up their game, but shots wouldn't fall for the second year program.

Carleton continued to knock down shots as they extended their lead by 14 after 30 minutes.

Thanks to outscoring the Lakers 24-10 in the third, the score was 59-27 and the game was all but decided by that point.

Nipissing did manage a fourth quarter victory, outscoring Carleton 12-9 to finish the season on a high note, but the game was well in hand at that point and the Ravens improved their record, while the Lakers will look to learn from these tough nights.

Joey Puddister led the Lakers with 11 points, Marcus Lewis had 10 and Kalil Langston added five points for Nipissing in defeat.

While the final weekend didn't go according to plan, there is no debating the Lakers were a different team in 2015-16.

A season like this will go a long way in building the young program as they continue to progress in the right direction and climb the OUA ladder.