The La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) Torreys defeated the Clairemont Chieftains, 62-22, in a non-league basketball game at Country Day on Saturday, Jan.30. LJCD opened the contest by jumping out to a quick 8-1 lead behind the play of 6-foot-5 sophomore center Frankie Bamford. However, Cody Bermudes, a 5-foot-9 junior point guard, came right back and buried a 3-pointer to pull Clairemont to within three at 8-4. “They can play with anyone,” Torreys coach Ryan Meier said of the Chieftains. “But Frankie has been performing phenomenally for us.” The Hershfield brothers (Jake and Max) also performed well, combining for the last seven Country Day points of the quarter, giving LJCD a 15-6 edge at the end of the first period. “We came out with some intensity,” Meier said. Clairemont seemed to be lacking intensity as the Torreys outscored them 22-7 in the second quarter to take a commanding 37-13 cushion into the locker room at halftime. “We’ve been in desperate need of wins,” Meier said. “They (Chieftains) are an athletic team, though.” After the intermission, Clairemont came out and showed some athleticism as baskets by Bermudes, 6-0 senior guard Marcus Darby and 6-7 forward Chris Bonner kept the margin from widening much. But the Chieftains still trailed by a titanic amount (46-20) at the end of the third quarter. It was more of the same in the fourth quarter as Country Day continued to pour it on. In the final period, LJCD got field goals from Bamford, Max Hershfield, 6-4 junior Ryan Watt, 5-9 sophomore Kai Tuites, 5-10 sophomore Nick Schlossberg, and 6-1 junior Kevin Kuntz to seal the victory. The Torreys improved their record to 11-7, while Clairemont fell to 8-14. Bamford led Country Day with a game-high 14 points and was followed in the scoring column by Watt (9 points), Schlossberg (3 points), Tuites (2 points), Kuntz (2 points), Jake Hershfield (13 points), Max Hershfield (11 points), 6-5 freshman Ziad Damonhoury (5 points) and 5-11 sophomore Jonathan Brewster (3 points). Earlier in the week, LJCD defeated the visiting Santa Fe Christian Eagles, 46-43, in another non-league game on Jan. 27. “Santa Fe Christian is an amazing team,” Meier said. “They shoot the ball really well.” The Torreys trailed by a score of 41-36 before rallying and closing the game with a 10-2 run to win it. “We could’ve quit,” Meier said. “But we sucked it up, played some defense and came away with a victory.” Bamford (24 points, 12 rebounds, eight blocked shots) finished two blocks shy of a triple-double. He was followed in the Country Day scoring column by Watt (9 points), Tuites (3 points), 6-1 junior Alex Perez (8 points) and 6-0 freshman Sage Burmeister (2 points).
