Tate’s Career Night Leads Warriors to Win over Bakersfield

TORRANCE, Calif. --- Freshman Linken Tate had a career night as El Camino College scored a 92-74 victory over Bakersfield on Wednesday evening at the ECC Gym Complex.

Tate netted a career-high 23 points on 10-for-17 shooting to propel ECC to its second straight double-digit victory. He scored 18 of his 23 in the first half to help the Warriors take a 12-point lead into the locker room at halftime.

Tate also added five rebounds, three assists and three steals in the win. Rocco Gaffoglio added 21 points on 6-for-13 shooting.

Zykiar Henderson led the Renegades with 23 points and seven rebounds.

It was a physical game from the jump as 21 fouls were called in the first half alone. The teams combined for 43 free throws in the game with the Warriors hitting 19 of their 23 chances while the Renegades went 13-for-20 from the stripe.

The teams were tied three times and traded the lead on three occasions but that all occurred early in the first half. The Warriors went on a 17-1 scoring run to take a 26-14 lead and they never looked back. The Warriors committed just six turnovers in the first 20 minutes and also capitalized on Renegades miscues, scoring 29 points off 24 Bakersfield turnovers.

The reserves were also a big factor for ECC in the win as six of the seven players that came off the bench on Wednesday scored at least one basket while the Warriors held a 40-21 edge in bench points.

With the victory, the Warriors close out the home schedule for the calendar year with an 8-4 mark. They will play just their second road game of the season on Friday evening when they head to L.A. Pierce for a 6 p.m. tipoff, the team's last game of 2025.