Bishop's-La Jolla Game a Mutual Admiration Society

The Bishop’s School-La Jolla High boys basketball game, which was one of the features of Saturday’s day-long “Coaches vs. Cancer” event at Bishop’s Eva May Fleet Athletic Center, turned into a mutual admiration society meeting for the head coaches.

La Jolla coach Kamal Assaf is a former graduate and current teacher at The Bishop’s School.

Bishop’s coach Matt Niehues was originally brought in as an assistant by Assaf at Bishop’s. When Assaf left his alma mater to become the head coach at La Jolla, Niehues replaced him as the top assistant at Bishop’s. And when the legendary Tom Tarantino stepped down at Bishop’s seven years ago, Niehues became the head coach of the Knights.

The two were on opposite sides Saturday when host Bishop’s defeated La Jolla, 57-47.

But there were plenty of hearty handshakes at game's end by both coaches and the players of these crosstown rivals.

Dominique Love, Ryan Chong and Stephen Kaiser each scored 14 points to pace the Knights (10-12), who raced off to a 29-15 halftime lead and then withstood a strong second-half rally by the Vikings (12-13).

Eric Brown, who had 11 points and Nick Sebald, who had eight, paced La Jolla.

“We both cut our teeth under the same guy (Tarantino) and we have similar philosophies,” said Assaf. “We met each other playing pickup basketball eight years ago. I brought him in as an assistant because I am always looking for good people. As it happened, I got the job at La Jolla and Matt took my place as a varsity assistant.

“It’s been a great friendship and I’m really proud of him,” said Assaf. “And particularly what he has done with these guys this year. It’s a difficult job because football season bleeds into basketball season and he really didn’t have any real practice time with the whole squad until January. Their record is deceiving.”

Two of the Bishop’s starters were on the undefeated CIF and state championship football team. And after starting 5-8 in the first 13 games, the Knights have gone 5-4 over their last nine.

“It’s a great rivalry I’m glad to be apart of it,” said Niehues. “Coach Assaf is my mentor and he means a lot to me. I'd almost rather not play him.”

Both coaches were glad to lend their hand to the Coaches vs. Cancer cause.

“I never thought I’d get a chance to be part of an event like this,” said Niehues. “But as a head coach I realize what sports and basketball can do for a cause like Coaches vs. Cancer. Our girls coach, Marion Wells, has done a great job organizing this event.”

“My mother-in- law has had cancer,” said Assaf. “She has had three surgeries. This is a great cause and I think everyone has had to deal with someone with cancer at some point in their lives.”

Assaf believes he has the best of both worlds in the Bishop’s-La Jolla rivalry.

“I teach history and I actually went to Bishop’s so I really love the fact that I can teach here, which is one of the greatest places to be, and coach at La Jolla,” said Assaf. “Every rivalry should be like this one in the sense that the coaches respect each other, the schools respect each other, and the kids do to. The kids know each other. They play on some of the same teams in the summer and fall.

Both La Jolla and Bishop’s were playing less than 24 hours after each of them lost the night before.

“I think it’s always a challenge when you play back-to-back games,” said Assaf. “But that is a lot like tournament play. We took it easy on their legs the last couple of days in practice. I don’t think that was an issue today. Bishop’s shot the ball well and we shot better in the second half.”

“They (La Jolla) are always battling and never get blown out of a game,” said Niehues.

“They (Bishop) are going to be a force in the playoffs,” said Assaf. “And I like to think that our season is still ascending. We still have time to put things together. And we can build on our strong second half today.”