The Laurentian Voyageurs men's basketball team prepped for the 2011-2012 OUA season, coming through with a very solid weekend on the hardcourt as coach Shawn Swords and company took part in the Brock RBC Classic.

Injuries to a pair of key players were felt in the opener as Laurentian dropped an 86-61 decision to the Saskatchewan Huskies. The Voyageurs stayed with the Huskies in the early going, leading 24-22 after one quarter of play, before turnovers eventually got the better of the blue and gold.

Alex Ratte led Laurentian with 17 points. The northern Ontario squad rebounded nicely in game two, defeating the Acadia Axemen 88-75 on a solid team effort that evened the Laurentian record at 1-1.

Facing provincial competition for the first time in the tournament, the Voyageurs lost 71-64 to the host Brock Badgers, hitting only four of twenty shots from beyond the three-point line.

Mike Hull was named to the tournament all-star team as Laurentian readies for the beginning of league play. On November 11th, the team will travel south to face the Windsor Lancers on the road, kicking off their home schedule the following weekend against Brock.

"It was a pretty successful weekend, especially since we had no Manny (Pasquale) or Nelson (Yengue), said coach Swords after the tournament. "We will take the experiences from the past few weeks and use them to prepare for the regular season."