Miami Country Day routs Chaminade; St. Brendan upsets Northwestern in regional semis

For the longest time, the Miami Country Day boys’ basketball team has had to play in the giant shadow of the school’s girls program.

The girls are favored to win their 10th state championship in the last 12 seasons. The boys? One state final four appearance in program history, a semifinal loss to Boca Raton St. Andrews in 2021.

The Country Day boys took another big step toward trying to get out of that shadow on Monday night when they traveled to Hollywood and put a 99-67 beatdown on Chaminade-Madonna in a Region 4-2A semifinal in the Lions’ gym.

Country Day, the No. 3 seed, came out firing from beyond the arc, jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the first two minutes, 28-12 after the first quarter, 41-22 midway through the second quarter and never looked back from there.

When the night was over, the Spartans (21-6) had seared the nets with 14 three pointers and outrebounded the Lions by a two-to-one margin while basically out-hustling them to nearly every loose ball all night.

“I told the boys from the start that we just have to play our game,” Country Day coach Ralph Mata said. “Our game is to play fast, let it fly and defend. So as long as we defended and rebounded, we were going to get those offensive opportunities.”

Mata and his players will have their work cut out for them in a big way if they hope to make it to state for the second time in program history.

The win earned them a berth in the Region 4-2A final on Thursday night but if they want to make it to Lakeland, they’ll have to knock off two-time reigning state champion Riviera Prep.

When you put 99 points up on the board, plenty of players are going to score plenty of points but none stood out more than senior center Chaim Galbut.

After scoring just eight points in the first half, one that saw the Spartans take a 43-29 lead to the locker room at halftime, Galbut busted loose in the second half scoring 23 points to finish with 31 for the night and also led the way with a dozen rebounds.

“We just came in here tonight determined to play hard,” Galbut said. “We jumped out on them early and never let up. We came out strong, passionate and made a statement. Jumping out in front of them right away was big. We showed them that we came to play. I don’t even know how many points I had tonight and it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter to any of us. We just come out and play as a team, unselfish, never only one guy looking for the glory.”

Like he said, Galbut had plenty of help from his teammates. Miguel Orbe and Fernando Romero each scored 15 points in the first half and Romero wound up finishing with 22. Orbe finished with 16 while Daltyn Simon scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half. Together the four accounted for 85 of the team’s 99 points.

“Chaim is a special player and we’ve been blessed to have him,” Mata said. “He’s selfless and one of the best players in Miami that nobody knows about. He showed that out on the floor tonight.”

Galbut said he’s ready for Thursday night.

“We plan on keeping this thing going,” Galbut said. “We’re just playing too well right now.”

BREAKTHROUGH VICTORY

Before this season, St. Brendan had never made it past the regional quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

On Monday night, the Sabres pushed even further by scoring an upset victory over top-seeded Northwestern at the Bulls’ gym, 70-69, in a Region 4-4A semifinal.

Jonas Duque and Benny Fragela put on a shooting clinic, which led St. Brendan to the victory over the team many favored to win the region and punch its ticket to Lakeland.

Instead, the Sabres (21-7) stand just one victory from their first ever trip to the state final four if they can secure another road win on Thursday night when they travel to Fort Lauderdale to face Stranahan at 7 p.m. in the regional final.

Duque scored a game-high 30 points and buried seven 3-pointers to lead St. Brendan, and Fragela scored 23 points and hit six triples.

Northwestern (23-4) had four players score in double figures led by Jamiro Smith’s 18 points and Calvin Russell’s 16 points.

▪ Region 4-6A semifinal - St. Thomas Aquinas 60, Miramar 53: KJ Sandi led the Raiders with 20 points while DJ Wimbley Jr. had 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Clarence Westbrook also had 11 points. The Raiders (27-2) will host Coral Springs on Thursday in the regional finals.

▪ Region 4-4A semifinal - Stranahan 74, Central 57: Christian Yeargin scored 24 points and collected 10 rebounds to lead the Mighty Dragons to the home victory. Stranahan (22-7) also had key contributions from Pradd Maurice, who had 17 points and four rebounds and Damari Foster, who had 16 points.

MORE SCORES

4-7A: Miami High 63, Coral Glades 53; Columbus 92, Western 48; 4-6A: Coral Springs 56, Boyd Anderson 54; 4-5A: Pembroke Pines Charter 50, Belen Jesuit 46; Blanche Ely 51, Norland 45.

4-3A: Cardinal Gibbons 69, SLAM 46; Gulliver 85, NSU University School 69.

4-1A: Sagemont 86, Dade Christian 42; West Palm Beach Atlantic Christian 49, Westwood Christian 45

This story was originally published February 17, 2025 at 11:20 PM.