North Bay, Ontario – Nipissing Men's Basketball split their two-game home stand this weekend, collecting a win over Laurier and a loss to Ontario Tech.
Friday, Oct. 30, the Lakers welcomed the Laurier Golden Hawks to RJS Student Athletic Centre for an 8PM tip-off in what was the Lakers home opening game.
Nipissing jumped to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter on three-point shots from
Darko Karac and Chris Hager to open the game. Laurier would wake up, but
Mateja Vukic Hager would score to see the Lakers lead 16-6.
Isaac Krueger, rookie
Ben Fofana, and Doug Awusu all scored down the stretch as the Lakers took a 27-15 lead after 10 minutes of play.
Krueger would add 4 more points to open the second quarter. Hager would drain another three ball and the Lakers found themselves up 34-15. Laurier would find their footing and score 8 unanswered to trail 34-23. Laurier scored 8 unanswered, followed by another 4 to cut Nipissing's lead to just 3.
Ibrahima Yansane drained a big three-pointed to restore Nipissing's advantage, and the Lakers would take a 44-39 lead into the half.
In the third,
Isaac Krueger and
Jeziyah Excell-Johnson would extend the Lakers lead to 48-41.
Mateja Vukic hit a clutch three ball and scored another basket shortly after. Laurier hung in the game, and picked up points to cut Nipissing's lead to 6 and then 4.
Ben Fofana hit a huge three-point shot to restore Nipissing's lead to 60-54. Nipissing would lead 67-57 after three quarters.
In the fourth, Nipissing would go on an 11-2 run to lead 78-59.
Isaac Krueger,
Darko Karac, and
Edwin Lamonge all scored in the run. Soon the lead was 83-66, and Nipissing wouldn't look back, winning 92-71.
Isaac Krueger led the Lakers with 25 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.
Ben Fofana scored 18 off the bench and added 1 rebound, 6 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Chris Hager scored 11 and had 3 rebounds and 1 assist.
Darko Karac had 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Then, on Saturday, October 31
st, the Lakers faced the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks looking to go 2-0 on their weekend home stand.
In the first, Ontario Tech got out to an 11-6 lead early. The Lakers kept pace, and
Ibrahima Yansane hit a three-pointer to cut Tech's lead to just one.
Isaac Krueger hit a big three shortly there after to bring the Lakers closer. Krueger hit another three-pointer to give the Lakers a 22-19 lead. Nipissing led 23-22 after one quarter.
In the second, the score remained close until Tech went on a short run to take a 34-28 lead. Tech's lead grew to 40-30 before
Jeziyah Excell-Johnson scored a three and added a layup to bring Nipissing to down just five points.
Ben Fofana would score five points in under one minute of play to give Nipissing a 46-45 lead, which is where things stood at half time.
Chris Hager hit a big three-pointer to give Nipissing a 48-45 advantage to start the third. Nipissing's lead would grow to 54-49 before Hager and
Isaac Krueger would both hit free throws to grow the lead to 60-52. Tech would stay in the game, and Nipissing led 62-58 after three quarters of play.
In the fourth, Tech tied the game at 64 before taking a 71-67 lead. Nipissing battled back and tied the game 73-73 from a
Jeziyah Excell-Johnson layup. Tech would score 7 in a row to lead 80-73, and would eventually take the win, 84-76.
Isaac Krueger led the Lakers with 29 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. Chrisitan Hager added 17 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals.
Darko Karac and
Ben Fofana both scored 8 points in the loss.
Men's Basketball moves to a 1-3 record, good for 6
th in the OUA East division.
The Lakers are back in action on Saturday, November 7
th as the Laurentian Voyageurs are the opponents at RJS Student Athletic Centre.
Tip-off is 8:00PM. Tickets are available at the door or online
here. The game will be streamed live on OUA.tv.
