Sports
Boys Hoops: LJCD Tops Bishop's Behind Burmeister
The Torreys sweep the season series between the two La Jolla schools as Sage Burmeister scores 16.
Sage Burmeister scored 16 points, including a crucial three-point play with two minutes left to play as La Jolla Country Day spoiled the Bishop’s School’s Senior Night, beating the Knights 66-54 Friday at the Eva May Fleet Athletic Center.
The victory was the Torreys' second over Bishop’s this season and improved their overall record to 15-9, 5-3 in the Coastal League.
Bishop’s, which got 16 points from Dominique Watkins, fell to 10-13 and 3-5 Coastal League play.
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“This is a great rivalry game,”said LJCD coach Ryan Meier. "Anytime you play Bishop’s it's going to be a battle. We need testing games like this and we want to be playing our best basketball by the time we get to the end of the year. And playing games like this prepares us for the tournament.”
La Jolla County Day looked like it was going to romp when it zipped off to a 21-7 lead after the first period and built a 17-point lead at the half (35-18).
However, the Knights, behind the hot shooting of Watkins and Dominique Love, who scored all 12 of his points over the final 16 minutes, came surging back, cutting the lead to just seven, 48-41, at the end of three quarters.
The Bishop’s Ryan Chong, who was saddled with four fouls, came off the bench and banked in a three-pointer that pulled the Knights to within five points, 59-54, with 2:10 left in the game.
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Burmeister, the Torreys' talented sophomore guard, then drove the lane, put in a reverse layup and was fouled. His free throw completed the 3-point play that gave the Knights their cushion.
“Sage is a great competitor, he knows how to win,”said Meier. “He’s a winner. He got a couple of offensive boards and that basket-and-one which was a key for us. He just competes day in and day out. He goes hard.”
“It’s a great rivalry playing Bishop’s," said Burmeister. “We match up with them pretty good and have gotten the better of them twice, but they’re a good team and we'll have to look out for them in the playoffs.
Joining Burmeister in double figures for the Torreys was co-captain Max Hershfield, who had 14 points, including a long trey after Bishop’s had cut the lead to seven, 56-49, with three minutes to play.
“We are fortunate to have a number of guys that do contribute evenly,”said Meier. “This was a very hard-fought game. Those halftime leads can be scary because guys can relax and take it easy. And the other team is obviously going to come out with some fire power and excitement. And we had to respond.”
