Queen’s Golden Gaels dropped their second Ontario University Athletics men’s basketball game in a row Saturday night, 97-81 to the No. 5-ranked Ryerson Rams in Toronto.

The Gaels led by a point, 25-24, after a high scoring first quarter, but the East division-leading Rams, 6-1, led 43-39 at halftime.

Queen’s trailed for most of the game, with the Ryerson lead bouncing between four and seven points through the middle part of the contest. The Gaels moved to within four points, 51-47, when Sukhpreet Singh nailed a three-point basket with about six minutes left in the third quarter.

Ryerson scored the next eight points, however, and it would be three minutes before the Gaels would get another basket, by which time the Rams held a 63-51 lead, a margin they more or less held to the end of the game.

Fifth-year senior guard Aaron Best, playing just his fourth game of the year, scored a season-best 28 points for Ryerson, largely on 10-for-15 shooting from the field. Adika Peter-McNeilly had 18 points for the Rams and Kadeem Green came of the bench to score 16.

Fourth-year forward Ryan Stroud had 25 points for the Gaels, by 11 points his career-best outing. Singh finished with 24 points and La Salle Secondary School grad Tanner Graham had 14 points to go with his 14 rebounds.

It was the fifth time this year that Singh has scored 20 points or more in a game.

There was nothing wrong with Queen’s free-throw shooting, as the Gaels drained 19 of 21 shots from the foul line.

The Gaels, 6-3, will play their next game Saturday at York.