What a victory.

The Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team didn't make it easy, but they sure did make a 69-66 win over the Brock Badgers exciting.

The Lakers got off to a great start, gave up the lead, bounced back and locked the game down in the final seconds, grabbing a weekend split and earning their fourth win of the season.

After an almost perfect start, Nipissing built up a 19-4 lead after one quarter of play thanks to a strong offensive game, some solid shooting and impressive defending.

But the second quarter was a different story.

After pushing their lead to 22-9, Brock began to fight back.

The Lakers held the lead 24-23, but Brock continued to come on and took a 25-24 lead before Nipissing closed out the half with a Kalil Langston three-pointer and some solid defending to take a two point lead into the break.

The teams played an even second half, with the Lakers posting 42 points, compared to the Badgers 41.

Brock held a 24-21 edge in the third quarter and actually took a 49-48 lead into the final quarter.

Thanks to their halftime lead and a four point advantage in the fourth, the Lakers were able to close out the game.

Down 60-58, Nipissing turned things around and grabbed a 61-60 lead and didn't look back.

The game was sealed by a Marcus Lewis steal and an Ismael Kaba layup.

From there, strong defending gave Nipissing the victory.

Kaba led the way with 18 points, Lewis had 16 and Justin Shaver added 12 in the win.

From here, Nipissing will travel to our Nation's Capital to battle Carleton and Ottawa this weekend.