Laguna Blanca’s Luther Tarver-Burks made it be known Friday night that few leads are safe when he’s on the court. The Owls senior scored 22 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter to close an 18-point gap against Cate.
In the end, the Rams did enough to hold on, claiming a key 64-59 Condor League victory as Laguna Blanca came up just short.
Cate’s Mark Mullan tries to save the ball from going out of bounds on Friday.
“I feel like everyone played hard, we all stepped up when it mattered the most and that’s all I can ask for,” Tarver-Burks said, noting that the Owls haven’t been the greatest fourth-quarter team this season.
Tarver-Burks, who scored 49 points last week in a win against Dunn, accounted for 22 of Laguna’s 23 points in the final quarter.
Laguna Blanca’s Luther Tarver-Burks racked up a game-high 33 points.
Ugo Nwasike collected seven of his season-high 17 points in the fourth for Cate, helping the Rams record a much needed league win. Cate moves on to play Thacher on Wednesday with second place in the Condor League on the line.
“I was the beneficiary of a lot of great passing,” said Nwasike, crediting Mark Mullan, Houston Bradley and Randy Person specifically.
“Obviously in terms of league we needed this,” said Rams head coach Brian Rodriguez. “Every single win is a huge win.”
Cate looked in good shape at the end of the third quarter as it closed the period on a 17-4 run that gave the Rams an 18-point advantage, their biggest lead of the game.
The two teams began the fourth exchanging baskets before Tarver-Burks scored a quick six points on two free throws and two layups to make the score 59-49 with four minutes and forty seconds left.
“Those guys fought hard. Luther broke us down and got us a little rattled and we started to play sloppy,” Rodriguez said.
Two clutch free throws by Bradley with 0:58 left pushed Cate’s lead to eight, which proved insurmountable.
Cate had four scorers in double figures. Nwasike was joined by Bradley’s 13, Person’s 11 and Mullan’s 11.
Connor Gray and Justin Shand backed up Tarver-Burks with nine and eight points respectively.
CATE 64, LAGUNA BLANCA 59
LAGUNA BLANCA – Tarver-Burks 33, Elder 1, Bickett 2, Serbin 6, Gray 9, Shand 8.
CATE – Nwasike 17, Spencer 2, Jacob 2, Bradley13, Greason 5, Engs 3, Person 11, Mullan 11.
Laguna Blanca 15 12 9 23 – 59
Cate 18 15 21 10 – 64
3-ptrs – LB 3 (Tarver-Burks 3), C 4 (Greason, Person, Bradley, Mullan)
