Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Nipissing Lakers men's basketball team had a tough road trip to Toronto this past weekend, dropping a pair of games, but didn't finish with a strong effort against a quality opponent.

The Lakers fell 96-62 to the TMU Bold Friday night and 87-73 to the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday to wrap up the weekend.

On Friday, Nipissing was on their heels most of the night, trailing 25-10 after one and 48-27 at the halftime break.

They fought back in the second half, posting 35 points – 15 in the third quarter and 20 in the fourth, but it wasn't enough to mount a comeback.

TMU built on their early lead and cruised to the win with 48 more points in the second half.

Darnaz Mabanza led the Lakers with 20 points, while Marcus Moore added 12 in the contest.

In the second game of the weekend, the Lakers started strong, grabbing a 19-18 lead after one quarter of play.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to sustain the early momentum and trailed 51-40 at halftime, but did battle back in the third quarter.

Down 11 after 20 minutes, they cut their deficit to six points after 30 minutes, but a late push wasn't enough, as they came up short against the Blues to close out the weekend, falling by 14 in the end.

Mabanza led the Lakers with 29 points, Moore had 19 and Alex Blackmore added 10 in the contest.

Nipissing is back in action Friday night at home, as they host the Algoma Thunderbirds at the Robert J. Surtees Athletic Centre.