SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL BASKETBALL FINALS : Division V Boys : Bishop’s Players Are the Happy Wanderers as Road Leads to Rematch With Calipatria

SAN DIEGO —  It has been a hard week for Ren Marquette, coach of the Bishop’s School boys’ basketball team.

The team has traveled more miles by bus in the past week than many Greyhound bus drivers.

They got home at 4:30 Wednesday morning from an eight-hour trip after a quarterfinal victory in Reedley, which is near Fresno. They played that game in an old airplane hangar in front of about 1,000 fans who created so much noise that hand signals were the only way Marquette could communicate with his players.

At 11 a.m. Thursday, they were back on the bus to North Hollywood, where they beat top-seeded Oakwood in the semifinals. They returned home relatively early from that game . . . about 1:30 Friday morning.

Though they are weary, the Bishop’s players are also thankful to be getting back on the bus this morning.

This trip is to Cerritos College, where Bishop’s will play Calipatria in the Southern California Regional Division V final tonight at 8.

“We’ve faced some real adversity this week, traveling as much as we did, playing tired,” Marquette said. “It’s been a real emotional roller coaster. I’m surprised they didn’t crack--I would have. They showed real poise winning those two games.”

The prospect of playing in the final was enough to keep the Knights going. But playing Calipatria would seem to make it extra special.

Calipatria (22-5) beat Bishop’s (24-1) in overtime, 52-51, in the San Diego Section final, spoiling Bishop’s perfect season.

“That seems like it happened about a month ago,” a weary Marquette said of last Saturday’s game.

Bishop’s led, 27-9, at halftime. Calipatria, known for its outside shooting, had gone cold as its players made only 1 of 23 shots.

But Bishop’s let the Hornets back in the game. Calipatria outscored Bishop’s, 38-20, in the second half.

Even then, Bishop’s had a chance to win in regulation. Guard Kamal Assaf, the best free throw shooter on the team, was fouled with no time left on the clock. He tied the score at 47-47 with his first free throw but missed the second.

“It was a shock that we came back like that,” Calipatria Coach Wallace Williams said. “I couldn’t believe we came out that cold. I couldn’t believe someone held us to nine points in a half. We made some adjustments and came back strong in the second half.”

Losing that way was hard to take, Marquette said, but he vows it will not happen again.

“We felt like we gave that game away,” he said. “It wasn’t that we played bad defense in the second half. We made so many turnovers. But it made the kids tougher. They are going to have to beat us this time.”

Calipatria has beaten both teams it has played since the section final, scoring at least 90 points in both games.

In the Hornets’ 103-85 victory over Hesperia Christian Thursday night, Robert Romero, who averages 31 points a game, scored 39, and teammate Andrew Zendejas added 37.

Williams said he plans to run the ball against Bishop’s and try to get those two players more shots this time. But the Bishop’s man-to-man defense has faced high scorers before, including Oakwood’s Mitchell Butler, who had scored 50 in one game. Butler scored 32 against Bishop’s.

Marquette said he will try to exploit his team’s height advantage. Bishop’s has 6-foot 6-inch Chris McKenna and 6-4 Josh Peterson. Calipatria’s tallest player is 6-1 Javier Sagun.