Estherville, IA - It was nearly a seven-hour bus ride for the ICC men's basketball team (1-1) to get up to Estherville, Iowa for the weekend's Iowa Lakes Classic. The Cougars would start with a matchup against the hosts and 10th-ranked Iowa Lakes Lakers (1-0), who were hosting the classic as the start of their regular season schedule. It was a game that was fairly nip and tuck early, before the Lakers pulled away in the midsection of the first half and was able to maintain that lead the rest of the way, on route to a 101-70 victory over ICC. 

FIRST HALF RECAP
Indeed, the game was quite back and forth in its early minutes. Iowa Lakes would get a fast break dunk at 13:20 to go ahead 12-10. Coach Tony Wysinger would make a line change shortly thereafter, and the Cougars were at least able to maintain that point spread.

However, at the 4:26 mark, the Lakers hit a three from the corner to give them a 36-24 lead, their first of 10 or more points. Once again, the Cougars were able to maintain the amount of deficit, just without decreasing it any. 

Jeremiah Tate had a quality look at the basket on a breakaway as the first half clock ran out, but it was contested just in time for it to fall out and give Iowa Lakes a 44-29 lead at halftime. 

Azarion Richardson was shooting 3-7 (43%) in the first half to pace ICC's efforts. Also of note, the Cougars were able to dish out seven assists on their 10 made baskets in the opening 20 minutes, paced by four assists from Isaiah Donnell. 

SECOND HALF RECAP
Out of the halftime locker room, it looked like adjustments had been made. ICC made a big run at it.

Emaryon Byrd had perhaps the best individual run of the game, scoring all of ICC's seven points from 14:59 to 13:35, including four free throws and a three-pointer at 14:14 that put the Cougars within 54-45 and forced the Lakers to call timeout. 

From there, though, Iowa Lakes was able to find their rhythm again and would increase that lead to 20 points at 11:50 and 25 points at 10:10.

From there, the range of the lead effectively stayed the same, and the Lakers came away with their home opener as a 31-point victory. 

ICC MBB STATISTICS @ #10 IOWA LAKES 
Emaryon Byrd | 20 points, 5-12 FGs, 1-5 3's, 9-13 FTs, 3 reb, 2 ast
LaColis Ashby Jr. | 14 points, 6-13 FGs, 2-3 FTs, 13 reb, 2 ast
Azarion Richardson | 9 points, 4-12 FGs, 1-4 3's, 2 reb, 2 stl, 1 ast
Isaiah Donnell | 8 points, 3-9 FGs, 2-2 FTs, 5 ast, 4 reb
Payton Cook | 8 points, 4-9 FGs, 3 reb
Willie Fragher | 4 points, 4-6 FTs, 2 reb
Amariyae Wilson | 3 points, 1-4 FGs, 1-2 3's, 3 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl
Ayden Grant | 2 points, 2-2 FTs, 1 ast
Cody Marcinko | 2 points, 1-2 FGs, 1 reb, 1 ast
Jeremiah Tate | 2 reb

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
2023 Iowa Lakes Classic
vs. Western Iowa Tech (0-1)
Saturday, November 4th - 1:00 PM
Laker Gymnasium - Estherville, IA
Watch Live (ICCAC Sports Network)