Box Score The Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team has been so close lately, but haven't been rewarded for their level of play.

They were hoping to change that as they hosted the Brock Badgers Friday night at the Robert J. Surtees Athletic Centre.

A hot start wasn't enough for the Lakers, as they fell to a sharp shooting Badgers team by a final of 99-66.

A slow start saw the Lakers down 15-5 in the opening quarter, but from there, they have stepped up their game.

From trailing by 10, to down just one, Nipissing closed the quarter out in style, outscoring Brock 14-5.

Nipissing then grabbed the lead in the second quarter, jumping ahead of the Badgers 32-39 early on.

From there, the Lakers took over.

They outscored Brock 15-3 down the stretch to the end of the half and finished the opening 20 minutes ahead by 10, 47-37.

In the third, the Lakers slowly saw their lead slip away as the Badgers stormed back.

Brock went on an 18-7 run to retake the lead, as they went ahead 55-54 late in the third quarter.

They finished the third outscoring Nipissing 28-7 to go into the fourth up 65-54.

Brock dominated the fourth putting up a huge 34 points to take over the game and cruise to the 33 point victory.

Noah LaPierre led the Lakers with 17 points, Muktar Mohamed had 15, Danny Lukusa had 13 and Ricard Neves added 11 in the contest.

The Lakers hit the road for an afternoon game Sunday in Guelph against the Gryphons.