Wankner triple-double highlights Rams’ win

Cate's Max Wankner drives to the basket for 2 of his 18 points. Wankner finished with a triple-double.

Cate’s Max Wankner was the perfect foil to Laguna Blanca’s Brandon Bickett on Saturday.

Brandon Bickett drove through a pair of Cate defenders for an open look in the paint on Saturday.

In the Condor League opener for both teams, Wankner’s triple-double trumped Bickett’s game-high 27 points in a 53-40 victory for the Rams.

Wankner totaled 18 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 blocks.

“I think in the second half, we started executing the press a lot better,” Wankner said. “I think that was a big part of our win today. We started working together as a team, and when we moved the ball around it really opened up the game.”

Bickett scored 19 of his 27 in the first half, which helped the Owls take a 28-24 lead into the halftime break. In the second half, Laguna Blanca seemed to run out of steam and only scored 12 points in the final two quarters combined.

“The bottom line is, Brandon cannot do it by himself. He needs help and tonight he didn’t get any help,” said Laguna Blanca head coach Sal Rodriguez. “I’m not putting anyone down but nobody stepped up.”

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The Owls are still looking for solutions after losing two of their starting post players to season-ending injuries in December. JT Aubrey is working his way back but also did not play.

“Basically three starters are out. So, I mean, we’re trying to deal with it,” Bickett said. “Probably the biggest thing we lost from them was, like, energy I’d say.”

Cate got stronger as Laguna faded. The Owls scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to make the score 40-38 but Laguna managed just one more basket after that.

“We lost the motivation to win, especially on offense,” Bickett said. “We kept the intensity up on defense I thought; there just wasn’t that will to score, I guess, in the second half – in all of us.”

The decision gives Cate a 1-0 record in league.

“As frustrating as it was, because we had a lot of turnovers and stuff, it was a big win for us,” said Cate’s Austin Gallegos.

Gallegos was one of three Rams with 10 or more points.

“We’re hungry. We really want to do well this season,” said Rams head coach Bryan Rodriguez.

CATE 53, LAGUNA BLANCA 40 

CATE – Vasquez 5, Basar 2, Walker 2, Lucchesi 4, Gallegos 10, Mayfield 2, Wankner 18, Whiteman 10.

LAGUNA BLANCA – Elder 1, Bickett 27, Vignolo 7, McCaffery 5.

Cate 9 15 16 13 – 53

Laguna 14 14 8 4 – 40