West Burlington, IA - The Illinois Central College men's basketball team won their first game of the season on Friday, 81-71 against Southeastern Iowa Community College in the Southeastern Iowa Halloween Classic. This win was led by the veterans, Idris Thomas and Javaughn Robinson, and Joshua Humbles Jr., a freshman, and gives the Cougars a 1-0 start to the regular season. 

ICC matched up against Marshalltown on Saturday for the second and final game of the Southeastern Iowa Classic. 

ICC took on the host school, Southeastern Iowa, to start the classic. The game stayed close throughout the first half. Southeastern Iowa scored first, but ICC quickly responded with a made free throw from Peyton Hess. Then the Cougars got a stop and a basket by Idris Thomas (24 pts, 8 rebounds), which gave them the lead that they wouldn't give up for the rest of the game. ICC got to 9-2 with a basket by Javaughn Robinson (15 pts, 5 assists, 3 steals), which forced Southeastern Iowa to call a timeout. A few missed shots by ICC led to Southeastern Iowa cutting the lead to 18-14 with under 8 minutes to go in the first half. However, the Cougars responded and went into halftime with a 35-28 lead. 

The second half started with a basket from Joshua Humbles Jr. (13 pts, 3 assists, 3 rebounds), to make it 37-28. The game went back and forth, but the closest Southeastern Iowa got was 42-40 with under 10 minutes to go in the game. ICC responded with back-to-back three-pointers by Robinson and Thomas. Points off the bench by Nathan Moore (8 pts) and Octavius Hickman (10 pts) increased ICC's lead to 15, which was the largest of the game, with 7:36 left. Southeastern Iowa would cut that lead back to 10, but that was as close as they got, with ICC winning 81-71. This was the first win at Southeastern Iowa for ICC since 2016. 

Stat leaders are posted below:

Individual Stats
Idris Thomas - 24 pts, 8 rebounds, 2 assists
Javaughn Robinson - 15 pts, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals
Joshua Humbles Jr. - 13 pts, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
Octavius Hickman - 10 pts, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
Nathan Moore - 8 pts
Peyton Hess - 5 pts, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals
Anthony Moore - 9 rebounds, 1 block

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
Tuesday, November 3
vs. Joliet
at 7:30 pm
Joliet, IL