Sundays at the gym in San Diego: San Ysidro, La Jolla Country Day, play first Sunday game

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced teams and athletic associations to get creative to make up some of the games that have been lost due to health and safety protocols.

In California, CIF recently suspended its ban on games being played on Sundays to give teams added flexibility in rescheduling postponed contests.

And this Sunday, La Jolla Country Day and San Ysidro became the first teams in San Diego to take advantage of the new policy, as the Cougars traveled to the UTC campus for a 1 p.m. showdown of top-10 teams.

San Ysidro (11-5) used a 9-0 spurt in the third quarter to put distance between them and Country Day and cruised to a 68-51 nonleague win.

Luis "Pollo" Rodriguez led the Cougars - who were without second-leading scorer Martin Flores - with 19 points, and Sebastian Medina added 16 points and 7 rebounds.

Miguel Figueroa added 13 points, and junior guard Alfredo De La Mora scored a season-high 11 points, knocking down three 3s for the Cougars.

Senior forward Fran Valenzuela grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds in the winning effort.

The Torreys jumped out to an early 9-3 lead, but the Cougars promptly went on a 15-3 run to take a 18-12 lead in the second quarter, eventually taking a 29-22 lead at the break.

Ysidro began to pull away after La Jolla Country Day guard Anthony Aruffo was hit with a technical foul for a shove on Fran Valenzuela. Valenzuela split the personal foul shots, Medina hit both technical free throws and San Ysidro scored on the ensuing possession to stretch the lead to 45-30.

Country Day would get no closer than 11 the rest of the way.

Sophomore forward Bito Bass-Sulpizio had 15 points and 8 rebounds to lead the Torreys.

The game could have significant playoff implications. La Jolla Country Day is currently ranked one spot ahead of San Ysidro in the Maxpreps power rankings that CIF-San Diego uses for playoff seeding. The win ensures Ysidro a "flip" in a scenario in which they are one spot behind the Torreys in the final rankings.

Both teams are currently on the outside of the CIF Open Division playoff picture, though San Ysidro's win will likely move them to the 8 seed when the rankings are updated on Tuesday.