Bishop Diego Stuns St. Bonaventure With 62-57 Victory in Overtime

A 15-point second half deficit against Tri-Valley League rival St. Bonaventure did not deter the Bishop Diego boys’ basketball team.

The Cardinals methodically worked back into the game and put the finishing touches on a thrilling comeback in overtime to secure a 62-57 victory on Wednesday night at the Brick House.

“I tried to stay as calm as possible, we were playing like crap the whole first half and so that’s why I kept telling them to ‘stick with it we’re going to play better than that,’” said Bishop Diego coach James Coronado. “We couldn’t play any worse and we were only down 12 at half so we had plenty of time to play better and they stuck with it.”

Lui Fernandez led all scorers with 17 points, 15 of which came in the second half and overtime. Back-to-back three-pointers by Fernandez in overtime put Bishop Diego up six points with under two minutes to play.

“The defenses have been gearing towards him the last couple games because everybody sees film and so he was getting a little frustrated because he wasn’t getting his normal space on the shots,” said Coronado of Fernandez. “ I told him you have to keep moving ala Reggie Miller. The kids don’t know about Reggie Miller. I should have said Steph Curry. He probably would have known, but he started moving more and I felt like that got him in rhythm and he knocked the big one’s down when it counted.”

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Bryan Trejo added 16 points, including a three-point play with 1:26 remaining that tied the score at 48-48.  The four-year varsity player scored 14 of his points in the second half and picked up his aggression in crucial moments.

“They were playing a 2-3 {zone} and we couldn’t really shoot from the outside in the beginning. I was just swinging the ball and staying in the flow of the game,” Trejo said. “Soon enough they went back to man-to-man and I just did my thing.”

St. Bonaventure boasted a significant size advantage with 6’ 7” Dylan Benner and 6’ 6” Kaden  Glover in the starting lineup. However, 6’ 2” senior forward Isaac Veal did an admirable job battling in the paint for Bishop Diego. He made up for his lack of size with intensity and motor and finished with 15 points.

The Cardinals trailed 17-7 at the end of the first quarter and 31-18 at halftime, but opened the third quarter on a 13-5 run capped off by a Fernandez three-pointer that cut the deficit to 38-31 with 1:39 remaining in the third quarter. 

Bishop Diego outscored St. Bonaventure 19-10 in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime. From there Fernandez put the game away with his hot shooting, including a deep three-pointer with 2:45 remaining that bounced high off the back rim before falling in to give the Cardinals a 55-52 lead.

With the victory Bishop Diego improves to 13-6 overall and 3-0 in Tri-Valley League play.

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