Box Score Coming off a tough weekend, the Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team was looking for a big bounce back, but had their work cut out for them.

The Lakers hosted the nationally ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves Saturday night at the Robert J. Surtees Athletic Centre.

A late push wasn't enough as Nipissing dropped a tight decision, 89-85, to Lakehead.

Nipissing didn't get off to the start they want, trailing 9-0 early in the quarter as the Thunderwolves hit some shots right out of the gate.

Things didn't get much better, as Lakehead extended their lead to 17-4 midway through the quarter, but the Lakers did manage to find their footing in the second half of the opening 10 minutes.

The Lakers closed out the first outscoring Lakehead 15-11 to get back in the game, despite still trailing 28-19.

Nipissing continued to chip away at their deficit in the second quarter, climbing back into the game.

Lakehead managed to stay on top of any momentum shifts for the most part, but had their lead shrink just a bit, as they were out in front of the Lakers 44-36 at the halftime break.

Both teams came out firing in the second half as they put up a total of 57 points.

Already up, Lakehead extended their lead by outscoring Nipissing by 11 in the third and held a 79-59 advantage after three quarters of play.

Nipissing refused to quit, however, storming back in the fourth quarter.

They caught fire and put up 26 points, outscoring Lakehead by 16 to close the gap to four points with 16 seconds left.

Unfortunately they were unable to get a pair of contested buckets to fall and the Thunderwolves held on to the lead and secured the win.

Muktar Mohamed led the Lakers offence with 24 points and 17 rebounds, while Danny Lukusa had 20, Noah LaPierre had 19 and David Bokanga added 10 in the contest.

Next up, the Lakers host the Brock Badgers Friday night before hitting the road for a game against the Guelph Gryphons Sunday afternoon.